Skip to main content

Protesters, police clash in Rome as Italy weighs new lockdowns

New skirmishes between police and protestors broke out in Rome on Saturday following clashes in Florence a night earlier that Italy’s interior minister blamed on “violent fringe elements”.

Protesters have taken to the streets in the past week in cities across Italy, including Rome, Naples and Turin, to criticise a new series of restrictions to aimed at stopping an alarming rise in coronavirus cases, even as the government considers more stringent measures to be announced as early as Monday.

Early Saturday evening in Rome, a sit-in at the famed Campo dei Fiori ended in a clash with police as some in a crowd of a few hundred protesters began throwing bottles and firecrackers, before being dispersed by police with riot gear and truncheons.

A second protest in Rome also ended in clashes with authorities.

The protests in Italy’s capital came a day after an unauthorised nighttime demonstration in the Renaissance city of Florence turned violent, when police sought to prohibit about 200 people from entering in the central Piazza della Signoria.

Clashes broke out between riot police and protesters, some of whom hurled Molotov cocktails, bottles and rocks, overturning trash bins and breaking security cameras.

Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said on Saturday that some of those protesting were seeking to exploit the coronavirus emergency.

“Unfortunately there are violent fringe elements trying to infiltrate the plazas in order to exploit the social and economic discomfort of this difficult moment,” Lamorgese told Il Foglio newspaper.

ALSO READ: Two conjoined twins separated successfully in Italy

Lamorgese said the demonstrators included young people with criminal records, football hooligans and extreme-right activists who “find an opportunity to exploit legitimate demonstrations.”

In Bologna some 80 kilometres (50 miles) away, a few hundred people also protested late Friday, most of them giving the fascist salute, La Repubblica daily reported.

– Second lockdown? –

The protests come as Italy reported 31,758 new cases of the virus on Saturday, a new daily record.

Italy’s government is eyeing a lockdown of the country’s major cities, beginning with Milan and Naples, news media reported, to try to slow the alarming rise in infections.

The new measures, that could be announced by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Monday, are likely to involve prohibiting travel between regions and limiting business activity in metropolitan “red zones”.

“We are meeting with experts and considering whether to intervene again,” Conte told Il Foglio.

READ ALSO: Lagos community where potable water, good toilet, school, hospital don’t exist

The first European country to be hit hard by the pandemic in March, Italy underwent a more than two-month quarantine that devastated its already struggling economy.

On Sunday, Italy introduced new nationwide coronavirus restrictions, including the closure of all cinemas, theatres, gyms and swimming pools and the closing of restaurants and bars at 6:00 pm (1700 GMT).

Conte had earlier hoped to wait for two weeks after the imposition of the latest measures to gauge their effectiveness before calling for more stringent measures, but the speed with which the virus is spreading may force his hand earlier.

The government has announced that five billion euros ($5.9 billion dollars) will be issued to the worst hit professions, including restaurants, taxi drivers and live entertainment venues.

The new restrictions spurred a wave of demonstrations in Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin on Monday and Tuesday, marked by violence and vandalism, with riot police firing teargas at groups of young people hurling bottles and rocks.

Earlier on Saturday, the president of the southern Campania region signed a new decree to suspend schools until November 14.

[AFP]

Vanguard News Nigeria. 

The post Protesters, police clash in Rome as Italy weighs new lockdowns appeared first on Vanguard News.


by Rasheed Sobowale via Vanguard News https://ift.tt/3kQT8mQ Best Known Member of the Cabinet Wikipedia

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

UPDATED: Nigeria’s coronavirus cases reach 1,728, fatalities 51

  By David Royal The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 196 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) have been reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,728. NCDC also announced that seven more fatalities were recorded, bringing the total number of deaths to 51. The NCDC, in a tweet at about 11:55 p.m. on Wednesday, said the 196 new cases reported were; 87-Lagos, 24-Kano, 18-Gombe, 17-Kaduna, 16-FCT, 10-Katsina, 8-Sokoto, 7-Edo, 6-Borno, 1-Yobe, 1-Ebonyi, 1-Adamawa. The virus has spread to 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Yobe, according to NCDC report, is the most recent state to record COVID-19 case in the country. According to the agency, Nigeria now has 1,370 active cases recorded as of 11:55 p.m. on April 29, while 307 infected persons have been treated and discharged, with 51 deaths recorded. READ ALSO: US says remdesivir shows ‘clear-cut’ effect in treating coronavirus “On the 29th of April 2020, 196 ...

Video Apapa/Oshodi Expressway Report

CONTRARY to  claims by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, and Secretary, Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, yesterday, that over 90 per cent compliance has been recorded following a presidential directive to truck drivers to vacate the Apapa/Oshodi Expressway and access roads to the ports, Vanguard can authoritatively report that since the expiration of the  presidential order, the trucks are  yet to vacate most of the places they occupy. Continue reading Video Apapa/Oshodi Expressway Report at Vanguard News. by adekunle via Vanguard News http://bit.ly/2wtn1Ca Best Known Member of the Cabinet Wikipedia

Obasanjo, Abubakar, Jonathan absent, as Buhari, Osinbajo take oath of office

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru & Emmanuel Elebeke ABUJA —THREE former heads of government were absent at yesterday’s swearing-in of President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, in Abuja for a second term in office. They include former President Olusegun Obasanjo;  ex-Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and former President Goodluck Jonathan. It was not immediately clear why the former leaders were absent at the ceremony attended by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; governors  of Zamfara, Edo and Kogi states; National Chairman of All Progressives, Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole; leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and former Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, among others. Continue reading Obasanjo, Abubakar, Jonathan absent, as Buhari, Osinbajo take oath of office at Vanguard News. by Tony via Vanguard News http://bit.ly/2WryeBV Best Known Member of the Cabinet Wikipedia