by InTrieste
A Venice city councilor who made global headlines this summer for her “Attenzione pickpocket!” warnings to tourists was robbed of her phone while patrolling the city’s main bus station.
Monica Poli, a member of the right-wing Lega party and the Cittadini non distratti (Undistracted Citizens) group, had her phone snatched from her hand by a man who fled the scene and disappeared into the crowds.
The incident in Piazzale Roma is suspected of being less of “a simple robbery” and more an “act of revenge” by those upset by her anti-pickpocket crusade, reports Il Gazzettino newspaper.
Poli, 57, has been alerting tourists to suspected pickpockets for decades but became a social media star in July after featuring in The New York Times, which omitted her political affiliation in the original version of the article.
After Poli’s initial stardom this summer, the spotlight soon shifted to her membership of the Lega which backs anti-Roma policies, amid allegations that she could be perpetuating discrimination against Europe’s largest ethnic minority.
