Clash at Rome Landmark

Scuffles broke out between Italian painters and Senegalese hawkers yesterday in one of the city's most-beloved squares because of a plan aimed at returning it to its former tranquillity.

Rome's city councillors began considering a bylaw to clear Piazza Navona of the fortune tellers, trinket sellers, musicians, mime artists and jugglers who have turned it into what Romans contemptuously call a "souk".

The artists, whose output ranges from garish oils to skilfull caricatures, have been setting up their easels in the square since the late 1960s, and more than 60 have licences to do so. But they may fall victim to the proposal and many blame the Senegalese, who mostly sell counterfeit goods without a licence.

Marco Carola, a spokesman for the artists, said: "Rules are needed, the piazza can't go on like that. But this isn't the way to put things right."

On Wednesday, the council approved a plan sponsored by Rome's mayor, Walter Veltroni, which would clear the Baroque square of its vendors and performers, restore the fountains and remove a pavement. Mr Veltroni said he aimed to restore the square's "prestige and decorum". The artists' backers include the leader of the former neo-fascists on the Rome council, Michele Bonatesta. "We cannot see what the eviction of the painters has to do with the re-establishment of the decorum and prestige that correspond to one of Rome's ... most beautiful places," he said. The left-led council has promised the artists another site in the old city.