News Coronavirus in Italy

Rome mayor asks people to report those breaking quarantine rules

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

27 Mar, 2020

Controversy on social media as Romans label the move 'fascist' and 'witch hunt'.

Rome's mayor Virginia Raggi has invited the city's residents to report violations of the government's quarantine rules due to the Coronavirus emergency by using an online platform established specifically for this purpose.

Raggi has appealed for citizens to inform the city of assembramenti, or gatherings of people, in violation of the nationwide lockdown, by making a report on the city's website.

The move, announced on the city's Facebook page, has provoked controversy among Romans who say it comes at a difficult time when the population is already making heavy sacrifices and abiding by the restrictions on their personal freedom.

The president of the central Municipio I borough, Sabrina Alfonsi of the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD), condemned "the practice of informing", saying that the work of ensuring against violations was already being done "very well" by the police.

Alfonsi invited Raggi to quit "playing the sheriff" and concentrate instead on ensuring the "safety of municipal employees engaged in essential services, the sanitisation of the largest number of roads and bins, and providing the greatest number of beds to the homeless who still live on the street."

However Raggi, of the populist Movimento 5 Stelle, has defended the SUS (Sistema Unico di Segnalazione) system, saying that it is a way of channelling the "thousands of reports" recieved by the city in various ways in recent days.

Speaking on Italian television station Rai3 on 27 March, the mayor said that "reporting" and "informing" were not the same thing, according to Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

For details about the SUS system, complete with step-by-step guide, see Roma Capitale Facebook page.

Photo RadioRadio.