This picture shows a tour guide threatening to jump from the Colosseum in Rome in protest at new rules banning his colleagues from stopping in front of the famous monument.
The move that aims to keep tourism groups moving is to reduce congestion, and is one of the whole package of new rules introduced last month by the city government to stop tourists and those that serve them damaging their image.
it has also included a ban on eating food outside historical monuments which is included banning the food trucks that serve tourists, and at the Colosseum enterprising locals that dress up as Roman legionaries in order to pose for photographs have also been permanently banned.
The latest notice was apparently organised by the fact the guide was one of many that are unhappy that the tour groups that they are needing no longer allowed to stop and take photographs in front of the ancient monument and have to keep moving.
A guide interviewed on the ground during the protest by his colleagues told local media: “This morning the policemen told us that we could not stop near the Colosseum . I’ve been in the business 15 years and that has never happened before.”
Currently visitors to the ancient monument find the area around a virtual no-go zone because of the reservations, and the guides protest action resulted in firefighters and other emergency being called to the scene in order to coax him down.
He reportedly stood on the edge of the amphitheatre for over an hour before finally agreeing to climb to safety.
The firefighters used ladders to convince the man not to do it, but also they had laid out inflatable mattresses to break the man’s fall in case they were unable to persuade him to descend.
The city council say that the rules and regulations were long out of date given the volume of visitors that they now have which is completely different since many of the rules were first introduced in 1946.
The new rules include not allowing your lips to touch the water fountains, or eating food ancient monuments in case any of the sauce drops on the floor, banning love locks or walking in the city bare chested. Also banned is playing musical instruments on public transport, or hanging the washing out on lines between the streets.
Defending the new rules at the time Virginia Raggi, the mayor of Rome, said: “Rome is, and always will be, welcoming, but that does not mean tolerating bad behaviour and damage being done to our city.”
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Story By: Jana Tomovska, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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