Italy deploys 3,000 soldiers in city centres

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

ROME (AFP) — Hundreds of Italian troops began patrolling the streets of major cities and sensitive areas Monday in a controversial move to boost security approved by the right-wing government last week.

Dressed in shirt-sleeve order and equipped with handguns, some 1,000 soldiers joined local police in Rome, Naples, Milan and other urban centres, press reports said from those cities.

Another 1,000 were deployed around vulnerable spots ranging from embassies to railway stations and churches, while a similar number were guarding holding centres for illegal migrants.

But mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno said no soldier would patrol in the historic city centre where most tourists are concentrated.

On the island of Lampedusa, where thousands of immigrants...