Looting of shops as Sicily feels the pinch
Print Edition
Police with batons and guns have moved in to protect supermarkets on the Italian island of Sicily after reports of looting by locals who could no longer afford food.
The coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 10,000 lives across the country, about a third of the world鈥檚 total, creating the worst emergency Italians have known since World War II.
It has also eroded the economy, which had been the third-largest in the European Union before the new illness reached Italian shores last month.
A lockdown designed to curb contagion has shut almost everything across the country since March 12, depriving millions of steady incomes.
The building sense of desperation reportedly boiled over on Thursday in Sicily, long one of Italy鈥檚 least developed regions.
According to La Repubblica daily, a group of locals ran out of one of Palermo鈥檚 supermarkets without paying.
鈥淲e have no money to pay, we have to eat,鈥 someone shouted at the cashiers.
In other Sicilian towns, small shops owners that are still allowed to stay open have been pressured by the locals to give them free food, Il Corriere della Sera said.
The paper wrote of a ticking 鈥渟ocial time bomb鈥 in the region, which is home to around 5 million people, and which has officially recorded 57 deaths from COVID-19.
鈥淚 am afraid that concerns shared by much of the population 鈥 about health, income, the future 鈥 will turn into anger and hatred if this crisis continues,鈥 Giuseppe Provenzano, Italy鈥檚 minister overseeing southern regions, told La Repubblica.
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