MONZA – A 55 year-old man from Morocco was arrested last Sunday on charges of interrupting Mass at the historic church of Saint Mary, Madeleine and Teresa. throwing insults in Arabic while stripping, according to the local police.

 The man was visibly drunk according to the priest and the nuns who reported the incident  - the police were able to promptly intervene and stop the man from undressing completely.

 After the arrest, the man was brought to the precinct, where he was firstly denounced for interrupting a religious function and sanctioned for public drunkenness. He was flagged up on the police database as holding multiple previous violations ranging from drunk driving to exerting both physical and mental abuse on relatives to numerous complaints for resisting arrests.

 Monza’s police commissioner Marco Odorosio had already established, on 21 March, that the man was to be repatriated back to Morocco via Rome’s detention centre for migrants. Despite this ordinance the man was released and returned to Monza, as Rome’s peace officer denied the validation of the ordinance.

 Police commissioner Odorosio authorised for the man to be relocated to Potenza’s detention centre for migrants awaiting final repatriation back to Morocco.

fp