Citizens of Trieste are planning a protest on Saturday to claim their “right to nap in a hammock” in the northern Italian city’s popular seafront pine forest area, Barcola, after an Austrian tourist was fined €300 for sleeping in one.

The man, 52, hung a hammock between two trees along the promenade that runs between the forest and seafront on Thursday afternoon. But his slumber was interrupted by police following complaints from passersby.

To express their solidarity with the visitor and indignation over the hefty penalty, a group calling itself the Free Hammock Collective is calling on people to hang their hammocks in Barcola between 6pm and 7pm on Saturday as part of a flashmob.

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In a note sent to local newspapers, the group said the aim of the protest was to “claim the right to nap in Barcola lulled by the rocking of a hammock”. The group is galvanising support on social media via the hashtags #amachelibere (free hammocks) and #disobbedienzacivile (civil disobedience). About 50 people have so far pledged their participation.

“We hope that at least 100 disobedient civilians will be present in hammocks,” the organisers said.

A press officer for the local police said the man had broken a law against attaching objects to trees.

“The law is not for decorum but for the protection of public green spaces,” she said. “The man hung his hammock over the promenade, whic is exclusive for pedestrians.”

The former Trieste mayor Roberto Cosolini ridiculed authorities over the episode.

“Fortunately, my passion for Mexico and its hammocks led me to assemble a comfortable Yucatan hammock at home,” he wrote on Facebook. “So I can relax with a cerveza or daiquiri without taking any risks. Joking aside, maybe you can start by explaining, especially to the foreign tourists in a welcoming city, what the rule is and invite them to respect it.”

Meanwhile, two German tourists were fined €1,000 by Venice authorities on Friday and asked to leave the city after being caught preparing coffee with a camping stove on the Rialto Bridge. The pair had violated one of the city’s “urban decorum” rules, which includes bans against snacking on bridges and the steps of monuments and swimming or dipping toes in canals.

The mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, said: “Venice must be respected and rude people who think they can come to the city and do what they want must understand that, thanks to our local police, they will be sanctioned and removed.”

Rome has also got tough on uncouth behaviour, recently reinforcing a slew of rules, including a ban against jumping into fountains, “messy eating” by monuments and dragging wheeled suitcases down historic staircases.