Commuters were met by a macabre sight on their way to work Monday morning: hundreds of dummies hanging from bridges, trees and signposts in an apparent protest against high mortgage rates. Some 300 dummies were found in Rome and the surrounding province while another 100 have been found in other cites in the region of Lazio.
The dummies wore signs around their necks with messages against high mortgage rates including: "I used to live in a home", "these interest rates at strangling me" and "I've been evicted".
All drew attention to a website, www.mutuosociale.org, which convinced investigators that the prank was carried out by the National Coordinating Committee for Social Mortgages. The group is currently gathering signatures for a referendum to promote affordable home loans and subsidized housing.
Investigators believe the initiative was staged on Monday to coincide with the resumption of forced evictions after the holiday 'truce'.
