Troops will appear on Italy’s city streets from next week, a move the centre-right government says is to help police fight crime. The army will also guard detention centres for illegal immigrants and is meant to defend potential terrorist targets.

Critics say this will harm Italy’s image, scare tourists and highlight inadequacies in police budgets.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni and Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa signed the controversial decree. Maroni said: “Two thousand out of three thousand will keep watch at sensitive sites, (such as train stations and embassies). The other one thousand will patrol.”

The plan to bolster security was to be for major and medium-sized cities, the military to be deployed for at least six months.

Last week, the Sivlio Berlusconi government declared a state of emergency to deal with an influx of illegal immigrants.

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