The decision to free six people including three women teachers jailed in a nursery school sex abuse probe left a small town near Rome dangerously divided on Friday.
The six - three teachers, a female school caretaker, a former producer of children's TV programmes and a Sri Lankan petrol pump attendant - were arrested last month, accused of repeatedly abusing children at the Olga Rovere nursery school in Rignano Flaminio, a town 40 kilometres outside Rome.
But five were released on Thursday and the last on Friday after a Rome court ruled there was a lack of "serious evidence of guilt".
Details of the reasons behind the court's decision will not be made public for up to 30 days when papers relating to the case are deposited.
Investigators initially said the six had forced at least 16 children aged three and four to take part in sexual acts with satanic overtones and filmed them, sometimes sedating them beforehand.
The alleged abuses were said to have taken place at the home of one of the teachers, Patrizia Del Meglio, who is married to the ex-TV producer.
Two of the teachers, both grandmothers, have been in service at the school for decades and one is close to retirement.
At least 80 of the school's 255 pupils have undergone medical and psychological tests since October.
The latest psychiatric assessment of some of the 16 alleged victims spoke of "irreversible damage" inflicted on them.
The nursery school, considered one of the best in the region of Lazio surrounding Rome, came under fire for failing to take immediate action when the allegations first surfaced last July.
The teachers and caretaker were suspended in late February and subsequently arrested on April 24 together with the other two suspects.
Justice Minister Clemente Mastella, who has asked for copies of the court release order, said on Friday that he wanted "clarity" on the case.
But in the meantime, tensions flared among the 8,000 residents of Rignano Flaminio who were split between those furious and incredulous at the release of the six and others who defended them as innocent victims of a form of collective psychosis.
The parents of the alleged victims and psychiatrists who visited them insisted that the children showed "unmistakable signs of serious disturbances".
One of the fathers told reporters: "If they didn't commit the abuses, then who did? How can they pretend that nothing has happened?"
A mother, who asked not to be named, told the daily La Repubblica that "first we were abandoned by the justice system and now we have been betrayed. We have no more faith in the system and life (in Rignano Flaminio) has become impossible for everyone... It's pointless reporting sexual abuses because this is how it all ends up".
The parents say they found signs of bruising and red swelling around the genital areas of their children, and were also alarmed by the dazed and confused state in which they sometimes returned home from school.
The children have also described in their limited language the sex "games" they were allegedly forced to play and drawn pictures which were used by prosecutors to argue their case against the six.
But a lawyer for one of the arrested teachers, Marisa Pucci, said after her release: "Finally we can say with certainty that there are no victims of abuse here".
The defence team had questioned accusations that the children were taken in groups to Del Meglio's house during school hours.
They said this would have been impossible without raising suspicions among other teachers at the school or neighbours, none of whom said they had witnessed anything strange or untoward.
The defence called for the case to be shelved.
Pucci told the media on her release: "I have never touched any of those children except to pat their heads or keep them at my side if they were in need. I don't understand how this madness began".
She also said she had been beaten in jail by fellow cellmates.
While the six were in jail, a 200-strong support group was formed in Rignano Flaminio which argued their innocence.
Local parish priest Enrico Rocchi was among those who maintained they were the victims of "malicious gossip".
Others expressed concern that the situation would turn violent and that the teachers would be attacked.
Town Mayor Ottavio Coletta, who said recently that the town was enveloped in "a poisonous climate of hatred and vendetta", called for help on Friday in "lowering the level of tension" in Rignano Flaminio.
"This whole affair has torn the town apart and we must all act now responsibly and with respect," he said.
