A row has broke out over whether
concerts should be held at Rome's Circus Maximus after they were
problems during Travis Scott's show at the ancient
chariot-racing stadium on Monday night.
Dozens of people required treatment for eye and throat
irritation, apparently after a person or a group of people used
pepper spray, and a boy was injured after a fall from a
structure he had climbed up to try to see the concert without a
ticket.
Alfonsina Russo, the superintendent of the Colosseum
archaeological park that is near Circus Maximus, called for an
end to rock concerts at the site, citing the behaviour of the
fans at Monday's show and the volume of the music.
But Rome's Mayor Events Chief Alessandro Onorato told Russo to
butt out on Wednesday, saying she had drummed up a "sterile
row".
"There were 60,000 young people with an average age of 20 at
Circus Maximus and zero incidents," Onorato said.
"Hearing the superintendent say you should only have opera or
ballet at Circus Maximums is... well, luckily she does not
decide what happens at Circus Maximus.
"One person was injured but fortunately he is OK.
"It's a lad who hurt himself not at Circus Maximus, but in the
area of the Colosseum archaeological park, where the director is
Alfonsina Russo, the same person who caused the row.
"Perhaps if she had controlled her site better, the lad would
not have been hurt".
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