Italy quake town sues Charlie Hebdo

The satirical magazine caused an outcry in Italy by publishing three pasta-themed cartoons on the subject of the quake, including one portraying victims crushed under layers of lasagna.

“It amounts to a macabre, tactless and inconceivable insult to the victims of a natural catastrophe,” the town council’s lawyer, Mario Cicchetti, told reporters after the largely symbolic legal move was announced.

Published only days after the quake struck on August 24, killing nearly 300 people, the cartoons struck a raw nerve, notably prompting Interior Minister Angelino Alfano to say he knew where the authors “could stick their pencils”.

The French publication responded with a follow-up cartoon showing a woman crushed under ruins and the caption: “It is not Charlie Hebdo who builds your houses, it is the mafia.”

There was no immediate response