ROME - - The police have detained a German school student who was etching marks on the Colosseum.

 Police authorities have taken a 17-year-old German student into custody after he was caught carving marks on the ancient amphitheatre. 

 After the stunt, which happened on July 15, photos and videos were posted on social media, according to Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. 

 The student, who was on a school trip, was scratching on a wall on the ground level of the monument and was picked up by the internal surveillance of the Archeological Park before being handed over to the police in Piazza Venezia. 

 Messaggero adds that the police then issued a fine and a complaint for disfigurement and deterioration of cultural assets. The student had also violated Article 33 of the Urban Police Regulations which imposes a ban on engraving or compromising the artistic, historical and monumental heritage of the city. 

 In the last month, this is the third tourist who has defaced the Flavian landmark. 

 “The surveillance systems are there and are effective and in fact all the violations have been sanctioned” the managers of the Park remark. 

 However, they add that from July 17 they will increase the number of signs prohibiting engravings and violations of the monument. 

 “We are recording over 25,000 visitors a day and this increases the risk factor. But with regards to the tourists we see,” they conclude, embittered, “we are also experiencing a lot of negligence.”

 Between 2017 and 2018, there were over 40 reports of defacement and deterioration of cultural heritage, Fatto explains.

 Further measures put in place from July 17 include a doubling of police officers, Carabinieri and municipal police at the site. This will be coupled with patrols and plainclothes agents stationed in the most vulnerable points in the external area of the grounds.

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