Modena, 17 May 2024 – A residential street, a stone’s throw from the city center is no longer a guarantee of tranquility and safety. Let’s talk about viale Medaglie d’Oro where late on Wednesday evening, just before midnight, a very young resident was surrounded and threatened by a group of kids. If it had not been for the intervention of other residents of the area, the situation would probably have degenerated. The citizens – upon hearing the news of the episode – underlined that they have been reporting for some time now crime incidents but to no avail.
Is Wednesday Night. The 18-year-old is cycling home, in via Medaglie D’oro when 4/5 young people of foreign origin emerge on the cycle path, at number 28. The pack – known in the area – begins to push and threaten the boy, ordering him to hand over his wallet to them. The young man, terrified, begins to scream and some passers-by, noticing the scene, intervene, making the potential robbers flee. At the same time the victim calls the police. Police officers then intervened on site and are now handling the investigation.
ButApparently, Wednesday’s case is not an isolated case. “I heard the boy shout and then I saw some people running towards him,” explains Mia Shamim, from the nearby grocery store, originally from Bangladesh. “I was closing the shop at that time but it sure is always the same group which forcefully enters my practice, demanding to steal undisturbed. One also entered yesterday afternoon (Wednesday, ed) and pretended to leave with the goods without paying. They’re looking for a fight but I always avoid it, inviting them to go out. There are four or five young North Africans aged around 20 who usually wander around the park. They enter the shops and, while one of them keeps us traders busy, the others steal. Someone has to intervene.”
“Here the situation has gradually worsened over the years – reports Matteo Pacchioni, a resident nearby – there have always been apartments of a certain type, now they have all been rented to foreigners who, from 6pm, they get drunk, shout and camp out. The whole area is like this now and we are well aware of the ‘baby gang’ that passes through here every day: they wander around the area of the small station and bivouac at the Sant’Agnese car park.”
Marisa Colicchia, owner of Diva Parrucchieri, underlines how Modena and the area in question have changed a lot and for the worse in recent years. «I have owned this business for 30 years – he says – we don’t even feel safe walking in the centre. Here – he says – we witness the drug dealing live every day between the two benches and the closed road between the houses, which they also use as a public bathroom. They bivouac on the walls, abandon rubbish, shout: I always stay with the door closed because. There is certainly no need to be calm.”
Colicchia refers to two benches in particular, located at the intersection with Via Prampolini which, according to residents, are often a meeting place for stragglers, thugs, drunks and drug dealers, especially at night. This is why residents have asked for its removal.
