Italian Parish Priest Demands Help After Continuous Attacks and Vandalism
The parish priest of the church of San Benedetto in Livorno, Don Tomasz Zurek, has said he can't stand anymore the intimidation and vandalism that happens outside his church every night. In the last incident, someone started a fire to a paper that was on the Church door. As he protested the violent acts he has to endure, he was pushed by the vandals. The priest says: "We ask for a permanent presence of the police and, if necessary, also of the army." He has organized a letter, together with people from a shopping centre nearby, also intimidated by the vandals that gather outside the Church at night. This was reported on the 11th of January.
The parish priest says he is tired of having to deal almost daily with these persons. It seems that the churchyard is visited in the afternoons and people sit on the ground or on the steps "until late at night, giving rise to drug dealing, violence, noises and often acts of vandalism that damage street furniture and the church." He also explains that every morning he finds the churchyard with shattered glass from bottles and garbage.
Citizens working at the Shopping Center nearby commented: "The parish priest has reported this situation several times but no one has intervened".
Source: Iltirreno
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