Residents in Palermo town entered small shops & supermarkets, picked food items and ran out without paying

Residents in Palermo town entered small shops & supermarkets, picked food items and ran out without paying. Looting is now a strategy for some to get food because they can no longer afford to buy after a long lockdown. They claimed that they had no money but they had to eat. Police with batons and guns have moved in to protect supermarkets. Carmelo Badalamenti, one of the local residents said, “people who attacked the supermarkets are ignorant…plundering the supermarket will not solve anything”. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte appears aware of the building sense of anxiety, stress and fear gripping the nation. In his Saturday evening address to the nation, he promised to send food vouchers to those who cannot afford groceries.