Tourist taken hostage in ISIS imitation at Rome's Colosseum

The woman was forced to her knees with a knife to her throat.

An unsuspecting tourist was taken hostage and forced to her knees at knife point at the Colosseum in Rome.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - The 26-year-old woman was held hostage for several minutes, with a kitchen knife pointed to her neck as countless tourists stood by watching.
 
The man with the knife was reportedly shouting, "Allah is great" and "It is God that sends me," during the length of the hostage.  

"It seemed like a scene from ISIS. He made the girl get down on her knees like you see in the terrorists' videos, while he held a knife to her throat," stated one witness. "The only thing missing was the orange jumpsuit."

Chiara Frisco, the woman held hostage stated, "I felt myself pulled suddenly into the middle of the crowd. Then I felt the blade of the knife that he was holding against me. I feared the worst would happen."

"We came from Vasto to celebrate my sister's graduation. We were supposed to meet her in the evening. While waiting we decided to take a walk and go and see the Colosseum," she continued.

Frisco was sitting on a low wall with her boyfriend and other friends, Monday afternoon, when she was taken hostage. The police soon arrived and the attacker ran off towards the center of Rome, piazza Venezia, where he was finally arrested with his weapon confiscated.

According to one police officer, the officers had trouble when trying to shoot the attacker for fear of injuring people in the crowd.

"I was afraid that he would cut her throat but we could not shoot their were too many people," explained the officer. "Two of us approached from the side and one from behind. And when he lowered the knife we intervened."

The police were able to arrest a 33-year-old Brazilian man held on suspicion of attempted murder and resisting arrest.

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