Piazza Vittoria, phase two. The municipal administration of Brescia has announced how it wants to continue along the path that in the coming months will bring this square, in the words of the councilor for productive activities Andrea Poli, to «deconstruct the narrative of a place of problems to instead be a place of opportunities”.
To do this, in addition to having intensified police checks, since the beginning of the year the Lodge has established an inter-councillor working group (Youth Policies, City Promotion, Security and Sport), with the aim of monitoring the situation and assigning to the square new functions that take into account all those who animate it: young people, residents, traders, visitors and tourists. A “participatory observation” of young people was therefore started in February, conducted by a multidisciplinary team from the K Pax, Il Calabrone and Adl Zavidovici cooperatives, which did not detect any obvious critical issues, aggressive or violent episodes, rather concerns over issues related to safety limited to the railway station area.
The data also shows that no particular critical issues or alleged gangs are highlighted: Piazza Vittoria is permanently populated by small groups on average made up of less than five people, mostly aged between 14 and 18 (59%) and with a migratory background of North African origin, while those over 18 are 43% and those under 14 are 5%. However, the presence of unaccompanied minors is significant: the 25 interventions carried out by the police forces from September to March focused on them, identifying 50 young people. On the repressive front, from the beginning of the year to mid-May, the Local Police carried out 232 video surveillance checks, 20 identifications, 8 complaints and 12 checks in public establishments. However, only two were released for theft crimes, one for drug possession. Data that explains how the phenomenon must be addressed with tools that investigate the root of these attitudes, which are certainly exuberant and often uncivilized, but which certainly do not refer to crime.
«With these wrong behaviors, young people ask us for help and need to rediscover shared values. There are many tools, one of these is sport, a universal language that promotes friendship and inclusion” explains the Sports councilor Andrea Cantoni, presenting the projecto «Sport in Vittoria» which includes promotional events and open sporting activities in the square in the months of June, July and Septemberwith the contribution of 30 sports clubs (from 25 to 27 June you can play at volleyball and beach volleyball, from 9 to 11 July there will be dance and martial arts, from 16 to 18 July fitness and climbing activities, from 23 to 25 July racket sports from 3 to 5 September various sports). In the nearby Piazza Mercato there will be events of a cultural nature: theatre, stand up comedy and small acoustic concerts. In parallel, the strategic action on the square will be integrated with targeted interventions that make up the entire project, called “Victory in movement”, aimed at promoting aggregation and inclusion through various activities that will put young people and their desires at the centre. Furthermore, a series of conferences will be launched to explain, thanks also to the contribution of the Inequality and Diversity Forum, how marginality and socio-economic hardship are often the main factors that produce these behaviors.
Finally, the polemical thrust, in particular towards the opposition: «Whoever shouted for the use of the truncheon does not help to govern the phenomenon» concludes Poli, explaining instead how it is necessary «to go to the roots and investigate the causes, even if It costs more effort and takes longer. However, the results are already arriving.” Manuel Colosio
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