Some policemen were attacked outside Milan’s Central Station late on Thursday in the second serious assault on officers in the city in two days.
A 36-year-old Egyptian asylum seeker, reportedly under the effects of drugs, turned on the officers after being cited for throwing stones and acts of vandalism.
After unsuccessfully trying to taser the attacker, one of the officers shot him in the shoulder.
He was injured but is not in a life-threatening condition, sources said.
A 35-year-old policeman is in a critical condition in Milan’s Niguarda hospital after being stabbed by a man in the area of the city’s Lambrate station on Wednesday night.
The policeman intervened after the attacker, a 37-year-old Moroccan, started throwing stones at trains and one hit a 55-year-old woman in the head.
The cop was stabbed three times in the back and underwent emergency surgery for organ damage.
The 37-year-old was tasered and arrested.