The Cagliari city council abolishes the ban on begging and loitering: the center-left, at the urging of Matteo Massa (Progressisti), has repealed Article 7 of the urban police regulation that had been passed by the council led by Paolo Truzzu.

Of the 26 people present at Palazzo Bacaredda, 18 voted in favor of eliminating the ban, eight against, and one abstention.

The center-left

"The solution to society's ills is not the criminalization of the poor, but concrete actions to combat poverty and marginalization. That's why we wanted to repeal it," reads a statement from the center-left party supporting Massimo Zedda, released after the vote. "Current legislation specifies behaviors that are punishable and prosecutable. There's no need for regulations that single out people in extreme poverty and social hardship, the homeless, and beggars, as human beings responsible for such behavior and for a problem of insecurity."

The center-right

The opposition responded: "The center-right expressed deep concern. This is a mistake that risks worsening the situation, not solving it. Those rules weren't perfect and certainly needed improving," they explained, "but eliminating them entirely would deprive law enforcement of a useful operational tool for intervening in contexts often marked by great vulnerability and hardship."

According to the center-right, "the government offers no concrete alternative to address a social emergency that is now evident in several areas of the city. Without adequate tools," the opposition explains, "an operational vacuum is being left that makes it more difficult to guarantee safety, dignity, and real support for those in need. Dismantling everything that could be reformed simply makes Cagliari less prepared to address a complex phenomenon that deserves serious responses, not ideological choices."

(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)