More than 1,000 troops were deployed across Italy today to help police fight crime on orders from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, an unorthodox use of the armed forces dismissed by critics as a publicity stunt.
The deployment, which will soon rise to 3,000 troops, was the most visible initiative so far in a law-and-order campaign by the conservative leader, elected in April on a pledge to make the country safer.
Soldiers were sent to Rome, Milan, Turin and Palermo with orders to patrol streets along with police and help protect "sensitive" sites, from Milan's Duomo cathedral to embassies and consulates.
Visitors to the Eternal City will not see them at iconic monuments such the Colosseum or the Pantheon, after Rome's mayor complained that gun-toting soldiers could scare off tourists.
Some critics said the deployment of a token force of 3,000 troops would do little, if anything, to reduce crime, while others objected to the use of the military for policing at home.
Achille Serra, a former Rome prefect with a long background in law enforcement, called the deployment "useless and ineffective". He is now a centre-left opposition senator.
"I'll remind you that we're not in Beirut. And I'm wondering what a soldier will do to address a burglary or mugging," he said in a newspaper interview.
Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa said the presence of the armed forces was enough in itself to discourage criminals. "Citizens know the mere fact that the armed forces are on the streets ... is in itself a deterrent," he said.
Italy's military is currently deployed overseas in places such as Lebanon and Afghanistan. But the armed forces have taken on domestic security roles in the past, including to address mafia violence in Sicily after the 1992 killings of anti-Mafia magistrates Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone.
"In 1992, just for Sicily, there were 20,000 men. Today for all of Italy there are 3,000," former army chief General Mario Buscemi told La Repubblica. "It's clear that this time their support to the police forces will be less, basically symbolic," he said.
Milan's current prefect applauded the use of troops, which he said would free up police, and the mayor of the southern city of Bari called the deployment "reassuring" to citizens.
The troops were also sent to guard detention centres processing illegal immigrants, blamed for much of Italy's crime.
Immigrants at one centre in southern Italy used the media attention to stage an impromptu protest about their plight.
Mr Berlusconi's government has won parliamentary approval for laws increasing jail sentences for illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, and allowing authorities to confiscate apartments rented to foreigners living in Italy illegally.