“We’ll send the police over with flamethrowers”: Italian mayors’ fury at lockdown flouting

A compilation video of footage from Italian mayors’ rants at citizens ignoring lockdown rules has gone viral on social media. 

Over the weekend, Prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced tighter lockdown restrictions in reaction to the continued rise in deaths due to Coronavirus. Citizens are only permitted to leave the house for work, health-related issues, and food shopping. Exercise and dog walking must be undertaken within the vicinity of people’s places of residence. 

Italian mayors have been issuing angry messages to citizens who are not obeying the regulations on movement. In the video, one mayor says, “I’m getting news that some people would like to throw graduation parties. We’ll send the police over with flamethrowers.”

https://youtu.be/TJeRgjlLaZk

In another clip, one mayor takes to the streets to lambast people playing ping pong outside and others walking around. He says, “we need their girlfriends. With a club.”

Another mayor voices anger at hairdressers visiting people at home. “What the f**k is that for?” he asks rhetorically, “do you understand that the casket will be closed?” 

Citizens are required to complete a self-certification form declaring that they are leaving the house for valid reasons. However, the police have already had to fine over 50,000 people for being outside without justification. This includes one man who went for plastic surgery on his nose despite displaying coronavirus symptoms. He later tested positive for Covid-19 and is now facing prosecution. 

Reports have emerged of two men fined for going out to sell drugs, while on a self-certification form one young man had simply written his justification for leaving the house was “love.”

The numbers of positive cases and deaths due to coronavirus in Italy are continuing to rise, and authorities are determined to keep lockdown rules firmly enforced. The army has been called in to worst-hit region Lombardy while police are carrying out hundreds of thousands of checks a day across the country on people who are out on the streets.