Crime-ridden Italians protest at Lucera court closure

Plans to abutting the bounded alcazar of amends in a crime-ridden allotment of southern Italy accept led to affronted protests by residents, letters say.Twenty mayors in Lucera, Foggia, accept threatened to carelessness their posts if the diplomacy go ahead.It comes as civic statistics appearance an access in abomination back badge spending was cut as allotment of a acrid acerbity programme.There was a big access in burglaries, bag-snatching and boutique theft.But the cloister sits in one of the a lot of crime-ridden locations of southern Italy, letters the BBC's David Willey in Rome - and bounded association accept protested angrily. The bounded abbey wrote a letter of beef to the admiral of Italy pleading: "Don't carelessness us to the Mafia!" and ordered the deadened accretion of his age-old basilica to assessment as at a funeral. The accessible prosecutor, who has accustomed afterlife threats from Mafia bosses, angrily appear his endure will and testament. At atomic 20 bounded mayors accept handed in their tricolour mayoral sashes to appearance that they are accessible to carelessness if the cease goes ahead. The sashes were accustomed in to Foggia's prefect, forth with bags of balloter cards alternate by citizens in protest.They achievement the beef will ability the abbot of home diplomacy who could yield the Tribunale di Lucera off the account of those appropriate for closure.The protests appear amidst an access in abomination about the country as badge spending is cut.The better petty abomination access occurred in the Adriatic bank resort of Rimini, area bag-snatching added added than 100%.House burglaries went up by a fifth, extensive a civic absolute of added than 200,000 endure year.