Naples' famed 'presepe' (nativity scene) shopping street was shut down Wednesday after police tried to remove unauthorised Christmas stalls.
All the presepe sellers on Via San Gregorio Armeno pulled down their shutters in solidarity with the stall-keepers, who hold a Christmas market at one end of the street each year dressed in traditional shepherd garb.
A spokesman for the vendors said the market had ''always'' been approved but this year the authorisation ''got tangled up in red tape''.
After a brief clash with police, the vendors went to city hall but were not received.
One of the presepe-makers said ''the borgo definitely needs to be reorganised but it should be done in all due course and certainly not in the run-up to the Immaculate Conception holiday (on Monday)''.
A vendor said ''hundreds'' of families depended on the pre-Christmas sale of statues, trinkets and the like for their livelihoods.
Tourists hoping to see the latest presepi - this year featuring the likes of Barack Obama, Jose' Mourinho and other newsmakers along with the Holy Family - drifted away from the area in disappointment.
