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POLICE FIRED TEAR gas and made a number of arrests in Rome on Saturday as an anti-government protest turned violent, leaving several injured, according to medics and an AFP photographer.
Hooded protesters hurled rocks and firecrackers at police, causing some 20 injuries to officers, according to authorities.
One protester was seriously hurt, losing a number of fingers after a firecracker apparently exploded prematurely in his hand.
According to the interior ministry, six people were taken into custody.
Protest organisers said 15,000 people had taken part in the rally but police could not confirm that number.
The demonstration made up of workers, students, and anti-austerity campaigners — started peacefully but turned violent when the group reached the Ministry for Industry in the city centre.
Flag-waving protesters shouted slogans against government employment reform plans, and carried banners reading “housing, income, dignity”, and “you can call us NEET”, the English acronym for people ,not in education, employment, or training,.
“Our situation is precarious, and we are angry”, one banner read.
Protesters threw eggs and oranges at government buildings before turning on police, while officers tried to disperse the crowd by surging towards the group and blasting them with tear gas, leaving many protesters fleeing down side streets.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who came to power in February, has put forward an ambitious economic reform programme which will see public spending reduced by 4.5 billion euros ($6.2 billion).
With the country’s unemployment rate reaching a record 13 percent in February, he says reforms are a “precondition for economic recovery”.
He said last week that changes were needed because in Italy “there are those who have taken much, too much over the years, and it is time they give some back”.
Read: Million euro paintings stolen in London in the 1970s have been recovered in Italy >
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Any chance our own citizenry could do something except bend over?
Yeah, cos going out on the street n throwing rocks at the guards will solve everything.
Sean whenever there are protests in Ireland and if they get a bit rowdy the protestors get castigated, especially on this site. When some protestor threw paint at the Dept of Justice building and it hit a Garda as well the abuse that the person got on here was unreal, yet the very same people say fair play if it happens in another country. It’s one strange little country we live in!
A riot would help things how exactly?
It would let the powers that be know that we won’t go down without a fight
But a protest here would be overtaken by SIPTU and ICTU and their ilk, who in the view of many are very responsible for bankrupting this country.
protest =/= riot
Well it ended communist regtime back home in Czech Republic for example..
Yeah we’d just go down faster as the riots drive away tourists and foreign investment on which any chance at real recovery rests. Great strategy.
Wide spread protesting across Europe
Yet you’d not know it looking at RTE
It’s not just rte, remember there was over a year of widespread protest in Brazil before it even got a mention in mainstream media.
There was huge protests in Spain as well
- over a million marched for ” Dignity ”- but all that is not on Irish media agenda – or most of mass media – which is basically run by the Rich .- except of course when the back the protesters – as in Ukraine and Venezuela – who are then peaceful – depite the fact that in Venezuela the protestors spread oil on road and caused traffic deaths – and shot people as well as threating people – .
http://zcomm.org/znetarticle/venezuela-backlash/
”Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards rallied in Madrid on Saturday against poverty and EU-imposed austerity in a largely peaceful protest later marred by violent clashes in which police fired rubber bullets.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/22/us-spain-protests-idUSBREA2L0LP20140322
PS – another link re Venezuelan protests
http://zcomm.org/znetarticle/eight-ways-venezuelas-violent-opposition-is-hypocritical/
Very fond of ZNET Jim.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_Communications
Pilger Chomsky and Fisk are very interesting to read, and you are a self confessed FOX news viewer, I rest my case.
Founded in 1995, Z Net is a large website updated many times daily to “convey information and provide community,” generally focusing on politics from a left-wing perspective
Very fond of ZNET Jim.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_Communications”
And — ??????????????????-
It articles are based on facts – Chomsky ,Pilger and Co are light years ahead of most journalists.
Go read some the article there – and if not happy – contradict them – but I doubt u will be able to do that . They are not Fox ,BBC , RTE – NYT etc etc etc
generally focusing on politics from a left-wing perspective”
– Correct – Is that a crime – considering what the right wing neoliberals have done to so many economies’
would u prefer if everyone agreed with your paid for ” analyisis ”
- . Would u prefer if everyone stuck to FOX , BBC ,CNN,RTE NYT etc etc etc – .
Go there – and contradict them – if u can – which I doubt very much . U talk as if a failed right wing system is the only way and to contemplate anything else is wrong ??
Just a note: “precario” does not mean someone whose situation is precarious, but someone whose job is not guaranteed for life. The Italian job market is divided among workers whose jobs are virtually unassailable, and people on temporary, often underpaid contracts (“precari”) who often have little hope of ever getting a permanent job.
Same rhetoric in every country from politicians. ‘We just need one more round of cuts and the green shoots of recovery will appear’. Kicking the can further down the road is all they’re doing. Nobody wants to be in power when the sh*t hits the fan.
Irish media in politions pockets please stop buying papers that will show them who pays their wages
And stop listening to Denis O’Brien media and RTE. They’re not here for your benefit, quite the opposite, they’re here to keep u misinformed. Boycott all Irish media, except for this one of course.
It’s interesting, observing the language used to describe protestors within the EU. It’s a lot more negative than those used to describe EuroMaidan or the protestors in Venezuela, for example.
Can’t have division in our one big happy family! ( despite the fact Scotland, Britain, Catalonia , Veneto aka Venice and many more areas of the EU are considering leaving)
You would almost think that our independent media has an agenda…
Are Scotland, Catalonia and Venice planning on staying out of the EU if they gain independence? I figured that a new country would seek safety in numbers.
Let’s not protest and let the rest of Europe see how well behaved the Irish are while getting shafted up the arsh ……
Wow I’m actually surprised the journal covered a mass protest in Europe, there’s a first!
Just a note: it’s reported on social media the protestor lost his hand from a tear gas canister…
Almost all of these protests are high jacked by provocateurs who then start trouble which turns a peaceful protest violent and these same provocateurs slip away from the mayhem they create.
It’s widely believed that many of these are planted by the government and are in fact off duty Police, FBI, ect..
Widely believed, good, at least there’s no speculation there!
posing protesters, look at them all in their Armani helmets and goggles afraid to get dirty. No better than their rugby team. Bet they can’t wait to get home, find a mirror and pluck their eye brows.
Saps
“Let’s wreck the joint” is not the answer.
‘Lets not ask any questions’ would be your preferred approach would it?
Let the corrupt pols make all our decisions
How can protestors wreck the joint if it’s already wrecked because of bad politicians
Let’s vote would be a better answer..
This is the reason many German business leaders are contemplating an exit from the Euro zone and joining a new economic union with recourse rich Russia which is free from international debt, has low unemployment rates and a well educated and highly motivated youth. Politically they are unable to sell this at the at the moment, but as the economic disaster draws ever closer in Italy and France, and they have 50% youth unemployment despite mass emigration, as in Spain, Portugal and Greece the idea will become more attractive to many. At the moment Russia is Germany’s third most important trade partner and are increasing their direct investment from over 22 billion Euros in 2013 to a planed 40 billion in 2014. A very wise German Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt made the prognoses many years ago that GB would one day leave the union and become another US state. Now as GB are becoming ever more reliant on the financial sector and are facing Brussels attempt to curb the out of control banking system. this may seem an attractive alternative. I am 100% pro EU as it has been of great advantage to Ireland in the past, but it has maneuvered itself into a very precarious situation.
Its been hijacked by dracula Draghi and the rest of them bloodsucking parasites at the ECB.
Hey Padraic, any links to learn about this economic union with Russia? The EU has gone too far and needs to be reeled in. Too much control has left the sovereign nations and gone to Brussels and the overwhelming majority of the people haven’t been consulted. The euro has been a disaster for many of the peripheral countries. But we’re stuck with it now, there is no going back.
First I’ve heard of a potential economic union with Russia. An interesting concept.
I was in Frankfurt last week, and many of the Germans I talked to had a relatively positive attitude towards the Federation, and insisted that they would rather their country take no side in the Ukraine debacle.
At the same time, in today’s geopolitical climate, I can’t see such a union happening. There would be fierce resistance from the US, and the EU member states that parrot what the US has to say (looking at you, UK).
Its been hijacked by dracula Draghi –
No Draghi is a great man — and gets good prise here . He keeps interest rates low – for the bankers ..
“there are those who have taken much, too much over the years, and it is time they give some back”.
– Dead on – the banks and the 0.1 % have taken too much – time they paid their way – and not be subsidized when they fail . They say they are ” free market ” entrepreneurs – they are anything but –.
Interesting to see how civil unrest in both Italy and France is being ignored by national media here.
Padania is slipping further and further away from Rome and Southern Italy every day!
Sure it’s a much better solution to beat people up ,maim and peopper spray them than to actually deal with the real economic issues.
have your say