Italy is suffering from a vigilante often known as Fleximan who’s tearing down speed cameras throughout the nation.
In accordance with studies Fleximan has efficiently torn down 15 cameras as they proceed their quest to annihilate the gadgets used to catch speeding motorists.
The person’s marketing campaign of terror started a number of months in the past within the northeast of Italy earlier than shifting to the northwest. Within the following months, footage of their assaults has gone viral on social media.
Fleximan’s identify is taken from the phrase ‘flessibile’, the Italian for angle grinder and the instrument they’ve been utilizing to destroy the cameras.
The explanation for Fleximan’s reign of destruction is just not recognized, however a number of individuals consider it has to do with the growth of the velocity digicam community within the nation.
It is usually not recognized whether or not it was Fleximan or Fleximen with hypothesis over a second particular person concerned within the spate of assaults after one CCTV image picked up two individuals.
Fleximan has now began to go away graffiti on the scenes of toppled velocity cameras. One message stated: “Fleximan is coming.”
What’s extra, the anti-hero has began to construct a following within the nation with one artist dedicating their newest work to Fleximan and treating them as a hero of the individuals.
Whereas Fleximan has captured the imaginations of some in Italy, a number of individuals have condemned their actions.
Journalist Paola Di Carro whose son was killed when he was hit by a rushing driver, instructed the BBC: “I might identical to [Fleximan] to really feel for at some point, simply at some point, what I really feel once I go to put flowers the place my son was killed.”
She added that whereas some individuals see Fleximan as a hero, she sees the determine as “shameful” and that they’re “making enjoyable” of her son by destroying cameras designed to try to sluggish individuals down.
Fleximan’s notoriety has grown so shortly that politicians are actually utilizing the vigilante to boost questions on Italy’s velocity limits and campaigners asking the federal government to rethink modifications.
Matteo Salvini, the Nationalist League chief, has focused Bologna’s mayor for decreasing the velocity restrict within the metropolis to simply 18mph. In the meantime, the mayor of Villa del Conte the place Fleximan has been working claimed velocity cameras have been “devices of repression”.
In an try and try to arrest Fleximan as quickly as potential, the Italian authorities is deploying anti-mafia police to try to discover them.
The Carabinieri’s Colonel Michele Cucuglielli instructed the Times: “We’re leaving no stone unturned as we go after this particular person.
“A lot of my colleagues have additionally hunted organised crime figures in southern Italy and have the best background for this investigation.