When they filed a complaint with the municipal authorities with the help of their village Priests, they were told that villagers were not protected by city law, so their cases would not be heard. After several fruitless appeals, they were beaten and driven out for disturbing the peace.
The situation in Lucca is the most severe. Lucca's Municipal Officials have recently been trying to restrict their entry into the city. They've even driven out villagers who had already settled there as apprentices, publicly declaring that those "country bumpkins" should get back to their villages.
The village elders accuse the city-dwellers of treating them not as countrymen, but as slaves. They say the citizens smile more at Saracens than they do at their own Christian brothers from the countryside.
A few village Priests said that God would never condone one group of people building a wall to shut out another. Walls are meant for protection, not exclusion.
