Morrissey accosted in Rome - police officer demands "papers" - Sam Esty Rayner Photography / FB

See Sam's lovely photography page: https://www.facebook.com/samphotog/



Last night at 7.45 on Via del Corso in Rome, the Police Officer pictured below terrorized Morrissey for 35 minutes demanding "papers". Morrissey had no papers.
The Officer then said "I know who you are." Morrissey replied: "I know the law, I know my rights, and you have no reason to stop me." The Officer shouted very loudly and a crowd of over 100 people gathered. The Officer held his gun throughout the confrontation. After 35 minutes, Morrissey walked away, and the Officer did not follow.
Morrissey says: "This was a deliberate act of terror by this Officer, who had no personal identification, but whose Polizia 113 motor-bike had the plate G2458. I had not broken the law or acted suspiciously. The officer unlocked his gun and held it as he screamed into my face. Some people came to my rescue. This happened outside the Nike store, and many people filmed the obviously insane officer. I believe he recognized me and wanted to frighten me. I did not back down even though I believed he was about to shoot me. I urge people to beware of this dangerously aggressive Officer. He might kill you."

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Media coverage:

• Original Italian police photo / story removed from SER Facebook page - July 22, 2017
• Macerata Opera Festival (Sep. 6) officially cancelled - July 14, 2017
• Italian police ready to sue and ask for compensation - reports - July 10, 2017
  
• SER denies driving car, names officer in FB comments; Morrissey quoted in Metro.co.uk article - July 7, 2017
  
• Morrissey and SER driving at high speed in wrong direction according to police - La Repubblica - July 6, 2017
  
• Morrissey canceled seven "proposed live dates" in Italy in Sep. due to incident - SER/Rolling Stone - July 5, 2017
• Morrissey Says “Insane” Police Officer Accosted Him in “Act of Terror” - Pitchfork. Link posted by Famous when dead.
• Morrissey claims he was ‘terrorised’ by a police officer in Rome - NME. Link posted by Famous when dead.
• Morrissey’s most current “tail”: nationalists and vigilantes - Niklas' blog. Link posted by Famous when dead.
  
• Morrissey claims he was held at gunpoint by police officer in Rome - The Guardian. Link posted by Famous when dead.

 

[ACTON]

No, the policeman wasn't deranged. Morissey was speeding the wrong way down a one-way street and the policeman consequently stopped him and asked to see his driving licence and ID documents (which you have to carry in Italy by law at all times, even tourists) and which Morissey didn't have. Apparently he didn't even pull out his gun. With the recent terror attacks in vehicles in Europe is it any wonder the police were nervous about someone driving badly and at speed in the city centre in a highly pedestrianised area?

Makes sense. When I first heard about all this I thought Moz was walking down the street and was accosted by a random cop asking for ID. Moz's initial explanation didn't exactly tell the whole story. If a car drives the wrong way down a street at speed in a city I'm not surprised at all that they were stopped. I know SER was driving, but the fact that Moz has cancelled planned concerts makes Moz look like an alarmist.

 

[DavidK]

If these reports of Sam speeding down the wrong way on a one way street are true, and that it was an anti terror policeman that stopped then, AND they had to google to find out who they were - all I can say is SHAMEFUL. Lying to fans, lying to media. SAD. PATHETIC.

 

[Anonymous]

WTF??? Asking "papers" to Morrissey. Was he robbing a bank? Assaulting an old lady? Please! Of course he knew Morrissey, if not people surely told the policeman about him during those 35 minutes. I hope a bad cop doesn't ruin Morrissey's italian experience. Sadly camicie nere mentality is still there somewhere in the depths of the soul of some people. It's very sad not being able to walk the streets of a city without suffering this kind of harrassment. This is something italian police authorities should answer for as soon as possible. If the place is not safe for Morrissey it isnt safe at all.

First, in Italy everyone normally carried an ID document with them, it's something you are basically obliged to do, unless you want to make a nice visit to the next police station and run through an entertaining ID procedure there. And the policemen and/or carabinieri can stop anyone and ask to show their ID card/passport, that's how it works here. You can judge this law as being right or wrong, I personally thing it's very stupid and tretrogade but it doesn't matter as that's the law, period. When you travel to another country, you should at least inform yourself about that, or you risk to go through troubles.
Second, a police officer (but also anyone else of course) is not obliged to know everyone, and you should not react in a stupid way in the case you, "the great artist", are not being recognised. Honestly speaking, this behaviour is really upsetting for anyone, and policemen are not usually counted among those with the highest self-control. So, if you argue with a policeman saying something like "Lei non sa chi sono io" (google it for translation), you seriously risk to badly upset the guy. And this is true everywhere, try to do it with a cop from Scotland Yard who has stopped you for some reason, and then come back and tell everybody about the experience... if you can still type on a keyboard LOL
Third, it seems like there was at least a reason for Morrisey's car to be stopped by the policemen: the car took Via del Corso in the wrong way, and at high speed. This does not justify the policeman behaviour, but who's the stupid in the end? You know you at least broke the road rules, and you still complain?
Forth, leave camicie nere alone, as well as everything else you have no clue about. Police corps are full of fascists everywhere, and fascism has certainly not been invented in Italy. For example, fascism is certainly everywhere and eveytime someone starts from gossip, and ends up with putting a label on an entire people...

 

[Anonymous]

That does not look like an Italian cop, certainly not an angry one, he'd have smashed the camera!
where is his motorbike helmet and his hair is to nice looking to have worn one?
If he has a gun, where is his body vest?
Looks more like a traffic warden to me.... something fishy about this.

He is an Italian cop (check out the Polizia logo on his shirt). I am too surprised that he let them take a picture as they are usually not so keen to provide their ID or being photographed.
Most cops here don't have a vest. They will have it only in special occasions or during car checkpoints.

 

[URBANUS]

As mementos go, that's pretty flashy. Are you sure you've checked all the garages? There's always one you forget, I find.

I just have a storage unit in the house next to mine and it smells of piss down there cause those who could not afford their own washing machine have a laundry room down there which includes a toilet. Thank god there is a steel door there so the piss smell is not in the storage unit but you pass by smelling that every time you go down there.

In Sweden we have storages next to the war shelter in the basement of most houses for when the war comes or there is a major leak of something that may kill us.

 

[URBANUS]

It probably has something to do with these scumbag terrorists (and Urban) who are trying to incite World War III. Meeting violence with violence, though, is not the correct solution--it never works--intelligence does (sometimes).

Yeah, cause we are the problem every time you read the papers or watch the news.

NOT!

 

[Anonymous]

If these reports of Sam speeding down the wrong way on a one way street are true, and that it was an anti terror policeman that stopped then, AND they had to google to find out who they were - all I can say is SHAMEFUL. Lying to fans, lying to media. SAD. PATHETIC.

Italian police: Morrissey is lying about alleged confrontation with officer
The singer was reportedly pulled over after speeding down a one way street in the wrong direction
BY ALEX YOUNG
ON JULY 06, 2017, 3:25PM


0 COMMENTS

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Italian police are pushing back on allegations made by Morrissey that he was “terrorized” by an officer in Rome earlier this week. Through his nephew, the former Smiths singer accused an unnamed officer of demanding “papers.” When he refused to produce them, the officer began yelling and unlocked his gun, according to Morrissey. As a result of the incident, the singer announced the cancelation of a planned Italian tour. “Obviously, with psychopaths like this on the loose, it is not safe for me to be in Italy,” he explained.


Now, La Repubblica has shared the police’s side of the story, and it appears Morrissey may have omitted some key details. The singer and his nephew were reportedly pulled over after speeding down a one way street in the wrong direction. The officer was on patrol as part of Rome’s anti-terror efforts and his decision to stop the singer and ask for identification is standard protocol under such circumstances, La Repubblica notes. Police also dispute Morrissey’s allegation that the officer threatened the singer with a gun.


Regardless of which side you believe, the incident has led to yet another canceled tour from Morrissey, something fans have become well accustomed to in recent years.


Uncle Skinny found this.
Spread the shame people.

Benny-the-British-Butcher

 

[Frank]

The fact that there's a law that supposedly let policemen ask "papers" to everybody doesn't mean they are allowed to harrass people for half an hour when there is not reason in doing so. They must have a reasonable cause to ask documentation, on the contrary people are living in a military state. Why didn't Roman Police explain why Morrissey was stopped and threatened in the first place? A civilized country can not let the welfare of a person, being him a citizen or a tourist, in the only hands and (lack of) wits of a single policeman. That's the equivalent of a conviction without trial. If a person is not comitting an actual crime he should not be molested by policemen, that is a basic human right protected by international treaties, no matter what unconstitutional reglamentations say about approaching people in the streets to ask identifications. That is what policemen should be trained for: detaining real criminals. NOT molesting artists they don't sympahize with abusing of the limited powers the state delegate on them to protect common people. NOT torturing them making a display of guns and depriving them of their freedom during 35 minutes.

All major italian newspapers today are stating that they were on a Fiat 500 driving fast (Sam to be precise) in the wrong direction, in one of the most crowded roads in the center of Rome, so no surprise that there was a cop asking him for ID (remember Nice, Berlin, and Nantes terrorist attacks? Maybe the police man was nervous for a reason...). I think he was lucky that the cop let him go without a fine at least.
The fact that Sam told only half of the story and that no video of this "harassment" can be found on internet yet (where if you're famous, for every move you make there are 10 videos documenting them) make me think of an exggeration of the whole thing, encouraged by the fact that Morrissey is a famous artist.

 

[Anonymous]

Oi ! Ketchup Bum !

Benny-the-British-Butcher

 

[DavidK]

I just don't understand that in this day and age, a man from England of all places, where terrorists are mowing people in cars, that he doesn't understand why he would get stopped for speeding the wrong way on a busy pedestrian street. He then refuses to identify himself, argues for thirty minutes, then drives away. And then he claims he was a victim of terror?! He publishes this cops name and calls him a killer?!

I dont care what apologists like Ketamine and EdWood have to say at this point. Guys this is a new f***ing low. Like super stank, depths of depravity, sickening, laughing stock of the world low. Sorry Morrissey, thank you for your music which I will always love, but you are a truly despicable human being.

 

[URBANUS]

This is the off season when it comes to news so any small thing gets blown out of proportion. In Sweden we call it news drought.

Take care everyone at Solo and I hope to be back soon again (not that anyone wants me to be of course).

Urbanus 1968-2017 (should something happen)

 

[Anonymous]

WTF??? Asking "papers" to Morrissey. Was he robbing a bank? Assaulting an old lady? Please! Of course he knew Morrissey, if not people surely told the policeman about him during those 35 minutes. I hope a bad cop doesn't ruin Morrissey's italian experience. Sadly camicie nere mentality is still there somewhere in the depths of the soul of some people. It's very sad not being able to walk the streets of a city without suffering this kind of harrassment. This is something italian police authorities should answer for as soon as possible. If the place is not safe for Morrissey it isnt safe at all.

Morrissey was asked papers because he was high-speed on the wrong side of a busy street, seriously jeopardizing other drivers, that's why.
He also did not intend to admit the road traffic offence.
Fortunately the police intervened before he caused an accident.

 

[Cicio Snack]

If these reports of Sam speeding down the wrong way on a one way street are true, and that it was an anti terror policeman that stopped then, AND they had to google to find out who they were - all I can say is SHAMEFUL. Lying to fans, lying to media. SAD. PATHETIC.

"via del Corso" it's not a normal street, ..it's the most famous and most touristic road in Rome..full of people for the summer sales...
I wonder what would happen if Morrisey was speed the worng way in Oxford Street..at 19.40..

 

[Anonymous]

The fact that so many of you automatically believed yet another Morrissey persecution story is a sad comment on the overall mental health of the people posting here.

Considering the climate, and what he was stopped for, he's lucky it went as well as it did.

Of course, Morrissey feels slighted yet again, and so he must flee to his safe space. The world is out to get him because he's so incredibly important, and well known by the average person. Sure.

This is the same man who believed he saw a ghost on the side of the road, and also believed that he was in the process of being kidnapped by a lost cab driver.

At this point, I don't know if Morrissey really believes some of these things, or he's just using them as an excuse to avoid certain obligations, and/or to get attention. What I am certain of is that when a person encounters this much static in their daily travels from a wide swathe of people, it's usually not the rest of the world that's crazy.

Morrissey continues to turn himself into an object of ridicule, and dissolves whatever legacy he has left.

At the very least, now Morrissey knows how many immigrants feel. Karma is a bitch.

 

[Anonymous]

"Lei non sa chi sono io" ma vai a cagare... go home morrisey

 

[Anonymous]

WTF??? Asking "papers" to Morrissey. Was he robbing a bank? Assaulting an old lady? Please! Of course he knew Morrissey, if not people surely told the policeman about him during those 35 minutes. I hope a bad cop doesn't ruin Morrissey's italian experience. Sadly camicie nere mentality is still there somewhere in the depths of the soul of some people. It's very sad not being able to walk the streets of a city without suffering this kind of harrassment. This is something italian police authorities should answer for as soon as possible. If the place is not safe for Morrissey it isnt safe at all.

Please check your facts. Morrissey was driving in the wrong direction on a very busy street. And he was NOT collaborative at all. This whole "he was about to shoot me" is clearly pure BS, I know that for a fact: Italian police rarely pull out guns and especially not in the center of Rome in front of hundreds of people. But you seem to be a dumb fool who believes everything he is told..

 

[Anonymous]

No, the policeman wasn't deranged. Morissey was speeding the wrong way down a one-way street and the policeman consequently stopped him and asked to see his driving licence and ID documents (which you have to carry in Italy by law at all times, even tourists) and which Morissey didn't have. Apparently he didn't even pull out his gun. With the recent terror attacks in vehicles in Europe is it any wonder the police were nervous about someone driving badly and at speed in the city centre in a highly pedestrianised area?

Imagine if the same was being done in a busy London Street especially in this high terrorism alert time drving the wrong way at high speed what would have happened to him? He should sincerely apologise to the Italian Police. He shoot so many photos, where is the one with the Gun Mr Morrissey? And why did You have problems 2 years ago with the Police in San Francisco? And Why Your driver apologised to the Police, is that because He recognised he did something wrong? Maybe if You were behaving like all proper British Gentlemen replying politely to what the Police was asking You now we were not here to discuss any story

 

[Ed Wood]

I just don't understand that in this day and age, a man from England of all places, where terrorists are mowing people in cars, that he doesn't understand why he would get stopped for speeding the wrong way on a busy pedestrian street. He then refuses to identify himself, argues for thirty minutes, then drives away. And then he claims he was a victim of terror?! He publishes this cops name and calls him a killer?!

I dont care what apologists like Ketamine and EdWood have to say at this point. Guys this is a new f***ing low. Like super stank, depths of depravity, sickening, laughing stock of the world low. Sorry Morrissey, thank you for your music which I will always love, but you are a truly despicable human being.

This is the off season when it comes to news so any small thing gets blown out of proportion. In Sweden we call it news drought.

Take care everyone at Solo and I hope to be back soon again (not that anyone wants me to be of course).

Urbanus 1968-2017 (should something happen)

 

[Ed Wood]

Yeah, cause we are the problem every time you read the papers or watch the news.

NOT!

Do you really think I have control over what my government does? The news isn't news. It's "info-tainment".

 

[Anonymous]

According to Italian police, who have shared their side of the story via Italian news site La Repubblica, Morrissey and his nephew were pulled over by an officer after speeding down a one-way street in the wrong direction. As per standard police protocol, the officer asked for identification. It seems Morrissey used this as the backbone for his more dramatic version of events.

See Sam's lovely photography page: https://www.facebook.com/samphotog/



Last night at 7.45 on Via del Corso in Rome, the Police Officer pictured below terrorized Morrissey for 35 minutes demanding "papers". Morrissey had no papers.
The Officer then said "I know who you are." Morrissey replied: "I know the law, I know my rights, and you have no reason to stop me." The Officer shouted very loudly and a crowd of over 100 people gathered. The Officer held his gun throughout the confrontation. After 35 minutes, Morrissey walked away, and the Officer did not follow.
Morrissey says: "This was a deliberate act of terror by this Officer, who had no personal identification, but whose Polizia 113 motor-bike had the plate G2458. I had not broken the law or acted suspiciously. The officer unlocked his gun and held it as he screamed into my face. Some people came to my rescue. This happened outside the Nike store, and many people filmed the obviously insane officer. I believe he recognized me and wanted to frighten me. I did not back down even though I believed he was about to shoot me. I urge people to beware of this dangerously aggressive Officer. He might kill you."

View attachment 41811

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Media coverage:

• SER denies driving car, names officer in FB comments; Morrissey quoted in Metro.co.uk article - July 7, 2017
  
• Morrissey and SER driving at high speed in wrong direction according to police - La Repubblica - July 6, 2017
  
• Morrissey canceled seven "proposed live dates" in Italy in Sep. due to incident - SER/Rolling Stone - July 5, 2017
• Morrissey Says “Insane” Police Officer Accosted Him in “Act of Terror” - Pitchfork. Link posted by Famous when dead.
• Morrissey claims he was ‘terrorised’ by a police officer in Rome - NME. Link posted by Famous when dead.
• Morrissey’s most current “tail”: nationalists and vigilantes - Niklas' blog. Link posted by Famous when dead.
  
• Morrissey claims he was held at gunpoint by police officer in Rome - The Guardian. Link posted by Famous when dead.