Kids attacked on the weekend, but also when they leave school. Baby gangs in action, between violence, threats, devastation of shop windows and public places and the families of the attacked minors who find themselves defenseless and who often do not even report the repeated episodes of bullying, fearing subsequent reprisals against their loved ones.
All this happens frequently in the Vomero neighborhood, two thousand square kilometers for 48 thousand inhabitants and not even a Police Station, transferred to the nearby neighborhood Arenella. In recent days, the mothers of the attacked boys have gathered in the streets for a sit-in: over 200 signatures for a complaint requesting a greater presence of law enforcement and for the opening of an institutional technical table to evaluate measures to combat the phenomenon of violence by minors against other very young people.
The complaint was signed at the end of a sit-in organized by several mothers, with the distribution of flyers to raise awareness on the phenomenon of bullying. "Cases of aggression against adolescents have skyrocketed for almost two decades, since the opening of the subway line that connected the Vomero neighborhood with peripheral areas such as Secondigliano, Scampia, Ponticelli, which are areas without places of entertainment. A river of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds systematically heads between Piazza Vanvitelli and Piazza Medaglie d'Oro", the president of the Comitato Valori collinari, former president of the Vomero District, Gennaro Capodanno, told Adnkronos.
Four years ago, after a mobilization that brought thousands of mothers to the streets of the neighborhood, Capodanno created the 'Committee against baby gangs and violent movida' on Facebook: there are over 700 members. "The use of video surveillance is certainly not enough, which is a control system but a posteriori, when the violence has already taken place - adds Capodanno -, with the current regulations when the young aggressors are caught by the police then they get away with little.
Instead, we push for the return of the proximity policeman, I am told that the policemen are in plain clothes but seeing the uniform can be a deterrent for the episodes of violence that often occur at the exit of the schools, from via Luca Giordano to piazza Quattro Giornate. The phenomenon has been worsening for too many years, something must be done and immediately”.
Article published on November 2, 2023 - 13:04
