This jarring statement was posted yesterday by Rev. Shoryo Tarabini on Nichiren Shu Italia:

Due to recent and continued threats and harassment, we have been forced unfortunately to temporarily close our website in order to protect our community. However, we are doing just fine and refuse to give into any of the prejudice, threats and harassment that we have been forced to bear at this time and firmly continue to protect Nichiren Shu in our country. We therefore heartily appologize for any inconveniece this temporary closing may been caused you, our members, beleivers, friends and other readers.

Thank you for your kind understanding and wish you all the best. Let's virtuosly continue on with unwavering faith and practice of the Lotus Sutra and the teachings of our Founder, Nichiren Daishonin...

Threats from whom? Militant atheists? Members of other religions? Or -- gulp -- other sects of Nichiren Buddhists? Anybody know the story?

UPDATE: I received a message from Rev. Tarabini. While Nichiren Shu in Italy has had trouble with SGI in the past, SGI is NOT involved in the current situation.  
Nichiren Shu Italy has become a target of locals who don't want a Buddhist monk in their neighborhood. Rev. Tarabini is trying to deal with it constructively. He wrote:

The police have been here a number of times and continually encouraged me to keep up our activities and try to simply ignore what they have done to us. They have assured us we are completely well within our rights and the law, and that on our part no laws have been broken. In fact, the police have been very kind and encouraging to us. In the process, the other people of the neigbourhood have come to know of our troubles and have also shown their support. So, we feel very protected in many respects, even though at times it is difficult. Now we are planning with the mayor and village (catholic priest) a procession and inter-religious prayer for the peace and harmony of our village in occasion of the Buddha's enlightenment. You may have read in the papers or heard on our news, that over the past years that has been a rise in racism and intolerance for other cultures, peoples and religions in Italy. So, this is our way to fight back with solidarity and prayer - from the resident Buddhist, Catholic, Jewish and Muslims communities. We are organizing this procession and prayer, it is the 3rd year we do it, I hope it will be an even bigger success for all involved.

Nichiren Shu's struggle is a stark reminder to me that Nichiren Buddhism is foreign and frightening to some people. As Nichiren Buddhists, we spend too much time caught up in sectarian infighting: SGI hates Nichiren Shoshu, Kempon Hokke hates SGI, etc. We have to find a way to end the intolerance within the Nichiren community. We need to be able to face the much more serious challenge of defusing intolerance in society at large.