BBC News - Italian police arrest 'gladiators' by Colosseum
This news is a few days old, but the video here is fun to watch. I'll bet these cops think they are badasses for handcuffing gladiators.
Seems the fake gladiators who urge you to get your picture took with them (for a price) are beating up other would-be gladiators who try to move in on their turf. Tourists also report that the glads like to take the picture with your camera and then hold the camera for ransom.
Personal experience shows that they hate it when you take their picture from afar, without paying; that's probably why the video with this story shows signs of having been shot clandestinely, from crotch level. Once the glads are being arrested, the photographer becomes bolder. There's something Mel-Brooks-esque about the image of gladiators being loaded into tiny Italian cars; I imagine someone saying "Drive me off this picture."
Also, not to quibble, but "by Colosseum" in the headline is misleading. That looks a lot like the Piazza Venezia. And what's this about undercover cops posing as garbage collectors (BBC: "dustbin men")? Those wouldn't stand out on the streets of Rome at all.
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