ROME – On Monday morning, a bomb alert went off at Marymount school in Vigna Clara, two hours later a new anonymous call signalled danger at a second bilingual college, St. Stephen's School in the historic centre, according to Roma capitale local police.

 An email that reached the secretary's office of Marymount at 8:33 a.m. warned that if a certain amount of Bitcoin was not paid "some device will be detonated".

 About 900 students were evacuated and then sent home. Staff also left the school and were sent away to a park far beyond the campus gates, while police, municipal police and fire brigade intervened along with the bomb squad, which inspected the entire school. The American embassy also intervened.

 At around 11 a.m., the bomb squad ruled out the presence of one or more bombs and the alarm was lifted. The origin of the e-mail is now being investigated.

 St Stephens then received an anonymous phone call at 10:32 a.m. which signalled the presence of a bomb in the college located on Via Aventina, a stone's throw from Circus Maximus. The security procedure was triggered with the arrival on site of the bomb squad of the Rome Police Headquarters and the Roma Capitale local police to help with road closures. At the end of the checks, as in the case of the International School of North Rome, the no threat was found.

 It is not excluded that the anonymous calls may have been made by the same person. 

 eb