Nor was the position much eased by the heavy-handed manner in which the Italians tended, initially at least, to reassert their authority. Some prominent S.Y.L. members who had achieved responsible positions in the civil service under the British were reduced in rank, dismissed, and in a few cases imprisoned. Similar measures were also taken against leading S.Y.L. civilians, particularly those judged to be dangerously anti-Italian; and a determined attempt was made to discredit the strength and popularity of the League.

I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Som…, loc. 379