PISA -- A nursery school teacher has been arrested on charges of abusing children under her care aged between one and three years old, police officials said. Footage from CCTV cameras and hidden microphones show the female teacher, aged 58, inflicting moral and physical abuse, including slaps and even hitting one child with a plate.

 The police have issued an arrest warrant and the teacher has been placed under house arrest. Officials called the "numerous" incidences "dramatic acts of violence."

 Concerns were raised at the school in November over alleged signs of abuse were brought to attention, but investigations were unable to proceed due to lack of proof.

 Confirmation was provided recently by "determining" video footage of the teacher inflicting acts of abuse such as slapping on the head and face, smacking, and forcing a child to eat until they cried.

 Secret voice recordings also reveal the teacher shouting insults and threats, among which, "you idiot, today I'm going to hurt you, stay quiet you foolish boy, I'll put you outside in the cold. Go to the bathroom and cry, I'm not going to speak to you." In one video she hits a young child with a plate. The footage shows the teacher without signs of remorse, apparently enjoying the power wielded. Two of her colleagues from the same school are suspected of similar abuse.

 Head of education services at Pisa's city council Laura Nassi said that the three teachers had already confessed to the alleged abuses in front of "a collective, or rather a meeting of the entire teaching body," which had led to follow-up investigations.

 "From there," Nassi concluded, "our decision to intervene not only with regards the teacher now under house arrest but also with her colleagues who had demonstrated inappropriate conduct."

 Following the teacher's arrest on Thursday afternoon a school assembly took place, attended by the Pisa's Education Policy Assessor Marilù Chiofalo. Families gathered outside the school in Pisa in shock and anger, some saying they had heard nothing about it from the school: "We heard about it from Internet sites, no one warned us."

 One mother said that "we did not realise anything. But my son will never again be putting a foot there, he is staying at home with me."

 The city council has now "installed a psychological consultation service for the use of teachers, children and staff," a spokesperson said.   ft