Italian Army Deploys to Cities; Mayor Bans Public Gatherings of Three or More People
August 4th, 2008Via: BBC:
Italian troops have begun patrolling cities as part of a government campaign to combat crime and boost security.
Some 3,000 soldiers will be deployed over the next week in major cities including Milan, Rome and Naples.
They are patrolling alongside police officers and guarding high-profile tourist sites and embassies, as well as immigrant holding centres.
Critics say the move sends a message that Italy is swamped by crime and that its police are not up to the job.
The deployment is due to last for six months.
The BBC’s Mark Duff in Milan says troops made their presence discretely felt from first light, at the city’s main railway station and main square, the Piazza Duomo.
‘Public demand’
Those patrolling city centres wore working rather than combat dress, and carried only sidearms – though those guarding embassies and other sensitive sites were more heavily armed.
Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa said that after six months the government would “make an evaluation to see whether it has worked and should be extended to other cities”.
”This is not a militarisation of cities but a clear response to the perceived demand for greater security,” he said last week.
Right-wing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi swept to power in April’s election on a tough law-and-order platform, promising new measures to curb illegal immigration and combat crime.
But his government has also been accused of whipping up a xenophobic mood against the illegal immigrants it blames for much of the serious street crime in Italian cities.
Ministers say they are simply responding to Italians’ fears. A recent study showed that Italians have never before been so worried about their vulnerability to crime.
But shadow interior minister Marco Minniti said: “It’s an image-building operation that risks backfiring.”
“Soldiers patrolling the centres of cities that are our greatest tourist attractions is not a very nice calling card for Italy at the height of the tourist season,” he said.
More: Italian Mayor Bans Gatherings of Three or More People as Soldiers Hit Streets
All of a sudden Italy is wanting to fingerprint the entire nation and now this. Why all this care for law and order now? Cover for action?
I was reading last week that Sarkozy in France also has the power to suspend everything and declare martial law, but apparently that is nothing new in France.
I live in Italy. Though I don’t live in any of the affected cities, I’ll be watching the idiot box to see how the general reaction to this is. So far, it seems to be negative, and there’s a real danger for the huge tourism industry. I mean after all, John Smith from Ohio who comes to Italy with his wife on their 20th anniversary do not exactly want to see camo-wearing soldiers with berets and Uzi’s while they’re trying to enjoy the Colosseum…
I’ll post here if I see anything weird happen.
Today was the first day that the soldiers were deployed in the streets. The mainstream tv media portrayed it (what a surprise!) mainly as favorable, only showing 1 or 2 people on the street as voicing their unfavorable opinion on the matter, while showing many more who are favorable.. ah, objectivity.. I love it.
From what I’m hearing, the soldiers have powers to “stop & search” people but not actually arrest people, unless they see a blatant crime (felony) happening in front of their eyes. Some will have handguns, others have machine guns. It’s supposedly a ‘pilot’ involving ‘only’ 3,000 soldiers throughout Italy, and if they like the ‘results’ they’ll extend this after the initial 6 months.
It will be interesting to see if any other European nations will be doing anything similar in the next few months.
This sounds shocking until you understand that Italy is and always has been a loose confederation of regions with little national feeling. The regions tend to be ruled behind the scenes by a handful of powerful families, sometimes cooperating, other times vying with each other. The net result is the chaotic folly that passes for Italian society. The fascists that periodically rise (like now) is a subculture of incredibly corrupt malcontents (the Rush Limbaugh brigade, Italian style) that tries to “unify” the Italians with brutality and xenophobia. It always fails, but not until Italian passion works itself out to its logical, melancholy conclusion. (See “Night of the Shooting Stars” if you don’t want to read Italian history.)