I attacked Berlusconi because he's ruining Italy, says Milan attacker

London, Dec 16 (ANI): Massimo Tartaglia, the 42-year-old man who attacked Silvio Berlusconi at a rally in Milan, believed the Prime Minister was ruining Italy.

The electronics engineer, who has been kept in solitary confinement after punching the premiere with a marble and metal souvenir, told police that he hated the Prime Minister because "that man is ruining Italy. I don't agree with anything he says", reports The Times.

He further told cops that he had decided to leave the cathedral square "but I heard people shouting, so I went back again. I turned into a narrow side street, I turned round and I saw him just a few steps away from me. He was coming through the barriers.

"I had a rush of blood to the head. At that point I just wanted to hit him with all my strength. I wanted to make my protest too".

He added: "I did it all by myself. I am no one's hitman."

In a letter sent to Berlusconi from his jail cell, Tartaglia expressed "heartfelt regret for a superficial, cowardly and rash act in which he did not recognize himself," his lawyers said. (ANI)