A daring stunt by two climbers who scaled the walls of the Colosseum has raised questions about security measures at Rome’s most famous attraction and prompted eye-rolling among locals over the preparedness of the city’s police force.

A video of the stunt that has gone viral – even though it was posted two months ago – shows the German climbers scaling the walls of the 2,000-year-old amphitheatre in the dead of night and then filming the sweeping views of Rome from the top.

The video was posted on YouTube by Visual Enemies, a German group that describes itself as “an urban collective uniting athletes and cinematographers in achieving extreme perspectives and stunning views”.

Responding to an email sent to an address on its YouTube channel, Flavius Vesely said his group consisted of “three German guys who like to travel and explore the cities from above and below”.

“We don’t destroy anything and we don’t want to encourage anybody to copy our stunts!” Vesely said in an email, adding that the climbers did not encounter any security.

The stunt has drawn comparisons to the daring free climbs of Frenchman Alain Robert, who once scaled Dubai’s Cayan Tower, though some Romans were less than impressed.

“This wouldn’t happen on Brandenburg Gate. Why? Because the police would come and arrest them two minutes later. In Rome? The police?” wrote one reader on La Repubblica’s website.

The climbers have also been accused of not showing sufficient respect to Italy’s cultural heritage. There have even been calls to have them arrested or fined.

The controversy follows several episodes over the past few weeks in which tourists have acted out their own version of Anita Ekberg’s frolic in Rome’s Trevi fountain from La Dolce Vita by wading into the water themselves.

Vesely said: “The lack of police seems to be a big problem for [local] people, but even more police would not have [meant] us getting caught. We also climbed on the Cologne Cathedral after the New Year’s Eve sexual assaults and during Cologne carnival. There were more than 2,500 police officers the day we climbed on the top. And they didn’t notice us at all.”

He also said the Colosseum could endure a trio of German climbers. “It survived bad weather conditions and millions of people visiting it over the years. And now people tell us we are destroying it by just climbing up there? I don’t think so,” he said.