Soldiers surrounded during tension over street inspection

NAPLES- Tension in Campania's capital after a group of soldiers found themselves surrounded by a group of immigrants after stopping a man on the street and putting him on the ground, according to a video posted on Facebook from the scene.

A military patrol as part of the operation ‘Safe Streets’ [‘Strade Sicure’] approached a young man, reported to not be an Italian native, in via Firenze, a short distance away from the central station. It is believed that the military officers had stopped the man and had put him on the ground during an inspection. A sudden protest erupted from witnesses in the street.

A group of people, reported to be immigrants, then encircled the soldiers as they moved closer to the young man on the floor, thus cutting the soldiers off from the man. More and more people arrived to take part in the blockade. The video, posted by the Vasto District Committee, shows a scene of great tension then unfold, with whistles, shouts and pushes being exchanged as well as several scuffles breaking out.  

During the commotion, the man who had originally been stopped by police was pulled away from the crowd and driven away in an army jeep.

This area of Naples is known for being one of the most troublesome parts of the city. “We are tired;” said one of the activists from the Vasto District Committee, “we have put forward to the prefecture, to the police station and to the town hall a petition signed by six hundred citizens who, like us, want more inspections and greater security.”