Italy deploys soldiers in city streets

ROME, July 29 (UPI) -- The Italian government Tuesday said it is deploying 3,000 military troops on the streets of Rome and other cities, responding to calls to fight crime.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni and Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said they would launch a six-month pilot effort to deploy the soldiers starting next week, the Italian news service ANSA reported.

The officials said some of the military units would watch 51 "sensitive" sites in Rome, 20 in Milan and one in Naples.

"This is not a militarization of cities but a clear response to the perceived demand for greater security," La Russa said.

Opposition politicians, however, said the move was a publicity stunt pandering to rising anti-immigrant sentiment and not backed up by any statistical evidence that street crime had reached crisis proportions in Italy.

Marco Minniti, the shadow interior minister of Italy's Democratic Party, told ANSA: "It's an image-boosting operation that risks turning into a boomerang," especially during the height of the tourist season.