Italian police warned on Thursday that anti-vaccine activists have called for armed attacks, Reuters reported. The attacks were to take place during planned anti-government protests over the weekend.
According to the report, eight people are under investigation for incitement to crime.
The eight are part of a group which calls itself "the warriors" on Telegram, and searches have been conducted in six Italian provinces, including Milan, Rome, and Venice, Reuters added, quoting a police statement.
Meanwhile, investigators suspect that the group was preparing to carry out attacks during demonstrations scheduled to be held in Rome over the weekend in protest of the government's Green Pass guidelines. They also suspect that the group was using the Telegram messaging app to organize activities and encourage similar attacks in other cities, the police statement said.
Italy's Green Pass, like Israel's, allows individuals to prove either recovery from coronavirus, vaccination against it, or a recent negative test, showing that they do not present a public health risk. Italy's Green Pass was originally used for cultural and leisure activities, but the scope has widened, Reuters said.
The site noted that it had received no immediate comment from the anti-vaccine activists.