Italy: Thousands of people out and about

Rome: A chilling scene, the prelude, some fear, to what could happen in the coming weeks, with summer nights pushed up to mid-May as a result of the warmer weather.

Thousands of people were out and about on Friday and Saturday nights.

On Via del Pellegrino, residents complained about loud music and shouting from dozens of teenagers in the street outside nightclubs.

“In the past, carabinieri and traffic police have already intervened several times to identify and fine those responsible for the clubs, but this has not been enough,” explained a resident of the area to Corriere della Sera.

There is no shortage of insults on weekends, “and even cases of body shaming, with swearing and sexist references towards the protesting residents,” say those who live in buildings with windows facing onto the street.

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“We are also afraid of retaliation, we lock ourselves in the house so we don’t hear the noise coming from the pubs and outside, but eventually we go out and protest. And that’s when we sometimes get targeted by those who demand to do what they want. It doesn’t happen all the time but often,” residents explained.

It isn’t just in Rome’s historical center

These scenes are repeated on the other side of the city, such as in and around Piazza Bologna, where carabinieri from the Parioli precinct fined the owners of six clubs for failing to take suitable and sufficient measures so that groups of young people did not make too much noise, disturbing residents late into the night.

At the same time, sixteen underage youths were caught drinking alcohol on the street and two others for drug use were also ticketed.

A mini market found open past 10 p.m was closed for violating the municipal ordinance, but a stricter measure against the owner has been formally requested by authorities.

In piazza Bologna, 128 people were cited in 42 different vehicles: two of the cases were people driving under the influence of alcohol.

Sweeping checks by law enforcement officers were also enforced in Pigneto, Testaccio and Ponte Milvio.

Lastly, in San Lorenzo, officers from the neighbourhood police station stepped up their own anti-drug operations, in collaboration with Guardia di Finanza and municipal police, arresting a 54-year-old drug dealer, who was stopped near the “Santa Maria del Soccorso” subway stop in Tiburtino and found in possession of 364 doses of cocaine.