Groups of minors are meeting in the late afternoon on via Poerio and venting their anger in Chinese shops. In the evening they gather there to buy and use drugs.
By Carlo Mion
December 8, 2023
Groups of youth who provoke people on the street or go into shops to cause confusion and knock over the merchandise on display for fun are back. Especially in businesses run by Chinese citizens. Every time it happens, a fight ensues which ends with the Chinese man pushing the kids out and calling the police.
The phenomenon of youth gangs has reappeared in Mestre. Groups of mostly underage kids who spend part of the afternoon wandering around the city center before targeting one of the local shops. Recently there have been “raids” between via Poerio, Riviera XX Settembre, via Verdi, and piazza Barche.
These are groups of six of seven young people, none of whom are adults. They are Italians and peers of Eastern European origin. On weekends, the meeting point is almost always the via Poerio entrance to the M9 museum. After they mill about talking, pushing and shouting at each other, as well as words of derision towards passers-by, the proposal from one of them promptly arrives: “let’s go to the Chinese”.
And quickly they end up at the general store on Via Verdi run by Chinese people. Here they come in and make a mess, molesting and moving the merchandise from the shelves or even throwing items on the floor. At that point the owner intervenes and invites them to leave and not to touch the goods. In response he receives sneers from the boys who continue. When the shopkeeper decides to try to take them one by one and accompany them out, they react by shoving him. At that point someone calls the police.
But the via Poerio entrance to the M9 is not only this. In fact, drug dealers and young consumers also meet here, especially in the evening. Sometimes the former is also the latter. It sometimes happens that the doses of drugs are hidden along the green wall that guides visitors to the museum from the entrance portico to the M9 courtyard. It’s easy to see the “owners” of the drug rummaging through the plants looking for doses because they forgot the right location.
But the area secluded from the Via Poerio passage is also used as a place for consumption. The kids who buy marijuana or hashish consume it on the spot. The smell of smoke coming from their “cigarettes” leaves no doubt as to what those papers they had rolled shortly before contained.
They also come here to consume the cocaine that the North Africans procure. Young people are often seen using their smartphone as a base to arrange cocaine runs which they then “pull” without caring about being seen. Drug dealers also like the M9 portico because it guarantees several escape routes on Via Brenta Vecchia, Via Pascoli and Corte Legrenzi with an exit to Piazzale Donatori di Sangue. These drug dealers’ customers are sometimes very young.
Source: La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre
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