The city is hostage to pickpockets: video reports are making the rounds on the web
The municipal councilor of the Democratic Party, Monica Romano: «Filming people secretly is violence». And the controversy broke out on InstagramPer restare aggiornato entra nel nostro canale Whatsapp
Videos denouncing pickpockets in action in the center of Milan , between the metro, suburbs and buses, are increasing on social media. The citizens themselves turn them over, tired of living in constant concern and alarm.
The Milanese city councilor and Pd Monica Romano also expressed herself on the subject, now in the sights of users, for her statements . A post of hers unleashed the discontent in which she asked to put an end to the "social pillory" to which even the pickpockets of the metro would be subjected , filmed by citizens during the thefts and reported "in the public square". "This habit of filming people caught stealing from ATMs and spreading the videos on Instagram pages with hundreds of thousands of followers is violence , and it's a very worrying phenomenon," the councilor wrote on Facebook.
But the post did not escape " Milano bella da Dio ", the social page with 173,000 followers that follows and documents - independently from the police and the municipal administration - the cases of muggings and assaults in the city , with videos and photos . And a repost of Romano 's statements was enough to unleash the users ' anger .
“Our city is under constant siege . For the councilor, civic sense is to protect criminals. Because what the "Milan beautiful by God" account shows is a city under attack . In addition to pickpockets, also the harassment on the buses and the situations of degradation that now reign supreme», writes a user. And even if Romano is now considering denouncing those who, for days, have sent threatening and offensive messages to her, it seems that the "people of the web" are on the side of the page.
To manage it - as reported by the Corriere - is a 26 year old from Milan, in his pocket a degree in Psychology and a master's degree from Cambridge. «I believe in this project. Between Instagram, email and Telegram chat, I receive up to 100 reports every day. I dissociate myself from those who use violence to report what is happening but I agree with those who report pickpockets. Here in the city we are at the limit of endurance and when the institutions pretend not to see, then the citizens mobilize ».
(Unioneonline/vf)