“We, Mayors of the Vesuvian Municipalities, representing a population of 250.000 people, cannot but further express our dismay at the scenes we witnessed just a few days ago.”
More police checks to avoid the escalation of Covid-19 infections. Ten mayors of the Vesuvian area write to the Minister of the Interior, the prefect and the police commissioner of Naples. In their letter, Giovanni Palomba (mayor of Torre del Greco), Ciro Buonajuto (Ercolano), Vincenzo Fiengo (Cercola), Gioacchino Madonna (Massa di Somma), Caro Esposito (Pollena Trocchia), Vincenzo Cuomo (Portici), Giorgio Zinno (San Giorgio a Cremano), Salvatore Sannino (San Sebastiano al Vesuvio), Salvatore Di Sarno (Somma Vesuviana) and Pasquale Di Marzo (Volla) write
“Last Sunday, any ordinary holiday, sunny, late winter, the majority of the population was out on the streets without any anti-Covid containment measures: people gathered outside bars, in squares, without masks, at very close distances, who have lowered their guard and who have no sense of responsibility, for themselves or for others.
We can no longer do it alone and we can no longer withstand the pressure of those who would like, rightly, to close outdoor spaces and not schools and restaurants, where the indications for the containment of the infection are widely respected. Our local police officers are no longer able to carry out all the checks that should be carried out and to deal with the total chaos and the frightening anarchy that now reign supreme in our streets. We have used up all the reserves of overtime, we have organized grueling shifts, many of them have fallen ill with Covid-19 while working for the community. Now they can no longer do it, we can no longer do it. The police forces present in the territory in ordinary do their best but it is impossible to counter this situation with the men currently present in our municipalities.
For this reason, we loudly ask for an increase in the forces deployed in our territories and for a resumption of control activities for compliance with the rules decided by the State. We ask for more men, more means, more economic resources to ensure that the rules are respected and abuses are sanctioned.
We ask for a decisive institutional intervention and for the State Bodies to plan and carry out territorial control interventions. We make available, as we have always done, the support of our local police forces for a shared and coordinated management of activities in individual territories: the vaccination campaign, which proceeds intermittently and with methods that are still unclear to most, is still far from being completed... it is not difficult to imagine that soon, despite the variety of colors that distinguish the Regions of Italy, we will have a situation completely out of control.
We are denying our children the right to education, to socializing, to sports, to individual and group growth; we are denying our elderly the company of their family members, their grandchildren, condemning – unfortunately – some of them to live the last moments of their lives in total solitude and abandonment; we are denying too many the right to work, and yet the end of the tunnel seems far away.
We ask you not to make vain the enormous sacrifices that, at this time, are required only from the most vulnerable citizens. The Municipalities are doing their part, the State must do the State”.
Article published on 23 February 2021 - 18:27
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