Marino says he will 'free Tor Sapienza from prostitution'

(ANSA) - Rome, November 18 - Mayor Ignazio Marino on Tuesday told delegates from Rome's troubled Tor Sapienza neighborhood that the city will rid "some of its streets" of prostitution.
    The mayor spoke after meeting with local citizens from the predominantly blue-collar and immigrant neighborhood where gangs of masked residents last week violently attacked a center housing underage refugees, forcing the city to transfer them.
    The incident brought to light long-held grievances in the run-down neighborhood inhabited by a medley of Italians, Albanians, Romanians, and Roma people, and which residents say is plagued with lack of services, poor street lighting, and a spiking crime rate including several attacks on women.
    "We will act in the most rigorous possible way to free some streets from prostitution, which is causing social tensions," the mayor said, adding that city government will not let matters end here.
    "We have decided this...is the beginning of a road we must travel together," said the center-left mayor, who is from Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) and who firmly condemned last week's racist and xenophobic attack on the refugees.
    "The meeting was productive," Marino said. "We reached decisions on what needs to be done in the coming hours and weeks".
    Citizen delegates were very specific about which of their demands they wanted met first.
    "The people of Tor Sapienza no longer want the Roma encampment or the migrant reception center," they said. "These are the emergencies we need fixed. We will monitor you every week," they promised.