Italians respond to Daesh threat with travel advice

Washington: In a recently released video that showed the killing of 21 Christians in Libya, all but one of them Egyptian, Daesh issued an ominous warning: “Today we are south of Rome,” one masked militant said. “We will conquer Rome with Allah’s permission.”

To make matters worse, Rita Katz, director of SITE Intelligence Group, pointed out that supporters of Daesh have begun using a hashtag to warn of their plan to reach “Rome.”

Exactly what “Rome” means to the Daesh is unclear -- some experts say it may actually be a reference to the United States or Turkey, or even the West in general. But Italy is worried. Libya is just a short boat ride across the Mediterranean. Thousands of refugees already make this journey to Italian shores every year. What’s to stop Daesh?

As word of #We_Are_Coming_O_Rome spread across the Italian media, Rome residents took the opportunity to respond to Daesh And they did so in an especially Roman way.

With warnings about the traffic. With food recommendations. A whole load of general complaints about their domestic woes. And plenty of references to a recent soccer match against a Dutch team.

By this point, the Italian responses to the hashtag far outweigh any from Daesh supporters, and some Italian publications are beginning to wonder how notable the hashtag was to begin with.

But the response does serve as a useful reminder: Italians may be scared of apocalyptic Daesh warnings, but in their day-to-day life, they have many other issues on their minds.

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