A newspaper article

The Roman Times

7th June 2019

An Australian man was placed in protective custody on Friday evening in the Italian city of Rome after he was involved in the assault of a large number of tour guides at various locations around the city including Central Rome, the colosseum and the Spanish steps. He was deported from the country this morning.

In an initial assault on Thursday morning the man approached a group of approximately 50 people and proceeded to take the umbrella from their tour leader and to smash it on the base of a nearby fountain before returning to the guide, tearing her microphone from around her neck, throwing it to the ground and stamping upon it.

The man is then alleged to have moved to the tour group immediately following and to have rendered the same upon it's tour leader's tools of trade.

It has been reported that the man had an associate, who though she did not take an active role in the attacks, was seen encouraging and applauding the perpetrator.

The subjects of the attacks were so shocked by their treatment that they deserted their groups leaving approximately 100 dazed tourists milling around unsure how to continue their sightseeing in the absence of their guides.

Eventually the group slowly dispersed and the tourists proceeded to self guide around the sights of the city albeit at a much slower pace than that which had been dictated by their tour guide.

Observers of the deserted tourists reported that they seemed much more relaxed and appeared to enjoy their slow meanderings.

Meanwhile the assailant, described as a mature, fit and remarkably attractive man whose overall appearance and demeanour made a mockery of his later reported age of 71, had reappeared outside the colosseum where he proceeded to destroy the guiding equipment of a further 20 tour groups.

Police expressed surprise that he was able to repeat his assaults so many times without interference from the public – one witness reported that significant numbers of self guiding tourists were seen applauding the man as he carried out the assaults.

News of the assaults circulated rapidly among the tour group community causing numerous organised tours to be cancelled leaving huge numbers of tourists to their own devices.

After the attacks of the first day the Director of Police, while noting that no one was physically injured in the attacks, said he was concerned that they would have a deleterious effect on the city’s tourism income and accordingly would do all that he could to bring the assailant to justice.

Responding to a reporter’s question about the apparent reduction in the number of tourist bunches across the city in the wake of the attacks, he agreed that the tourist traffic had been unusually calm and relaxed in spite of the reduction in the number of tour guides. 

The assaults of Thursday were followed by approximately 20 further random attacks on Friday resulting in a complete close down of the guided tour industry in Rome.

By late Friday evening observers were reporting that the environment within Rome had clearly changed in the wake of the attacks and both independent observers and the Director of Police himself noted that pedestrian traffic in the city had become slower and less congested, that there had been a sudden downturn in the number of confrontations between tourists and that overall the city of Rome was a much more pleasant environment.

It has been reported that the man turned himself into Police around 10 pm on Friday claiming that in carrying out the attacks, he was rendering a service to the tourism industry in Rome.

Police were inclined to agree and resolved that the best way to proceed would be to isolate the man from any further contact with the tour guide community and to ensure that he and his associate left Rome as soon as possible. They were last seen boarding a plane for Taiwan on route to Australia.

Reporters in Rome understand that tourist authorities are now investigating the potential to limit all guided pedestrian tours to a maximum of 6 people. It is further understood that the erection of a monument to the assailant at the top of the Spanish Steps is under active consideration.

AAP.