Locals destroy turnstiles segregating them from tourists

Venice is one of the most visited – and hence most crowded – cities in Europe, a problem the local mayor decided to address by installing turnstiles separating residents from tourists.

But on Monday, one day after they were installed, a group of protestors defiantly tore them down, as a video later posted on social media shows.

Shouting “free Venice,” the group of approximately 30 activists pulled down the turnstile checkpoints at Piazzale Roma, the city’s bus terminal and main entry point to the city.

“We refuse the idea of having checkpoints to get into the city,” protestor Marco Baravalle told The Independent. “We own our city.”

The World Heritage-listed historic city has a population of approximately 60,000, but receives up to 30 million tourists a year – a situation local Venetians say is untenable.

In an attempt to manage crowds and increase safety, Mayor Luigi Brugnaro introduced checkpoints in an attempt to free up the city’s most clogged thoroughfares.

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But the plan has not gone down well with the citizens of Venice, who claim that the mayor is “giving up” and wants a city “with no inhabitants.”

“Venice is a real city, not a theme park!,” the activists claimed on Twitter account Globalproject.

“We don’t need check points and we don’t live in a reservation.

“We need effective housing policies to stop massive displacement of inhabitants!”

The barriers were later reinstated, but protestor Tommaso Cacciari told The Independent that activists would not give up.

“We will do it again,” he said.

“We cannot resign ourselves to being cooped up in a theme park.”