Thousands of students and workers took to the streets across Italy on Oct. 30, calling for more school funding and relief from the soaring cost of living, amid a high police presence to avert possible clashes.
Italy-wide protest comes after weeks of demonstrations, led by students who have set up tent camps and occupied schools to make their demands heard, fuelled by similar movements in nearby France and Spain.
A general strike called by Italy’s USB trade union attracted thousands of workers to protests on Oct. 30, including truck drivers, taxi drivers and farmers who have rallied in recent weeks over the spike in fuel prices and to oppose rising defense spending.
Marches were held in dozens of cities up and down the country, including in Bologna, Genoa, Naples, and Turin, where a few minor skirmishes between protesters and riot police occurred at the start of the protest.
Besides students, the demonstrators at protest included teachers, workers and retired people, with one man in Rome bearing a sign that read “Pensioners - Pissed Off and Furious.”
Many pro-Palestine flags were seen in the crowds in major cities.
Following the Oct. 17-18 weekend of clashes between youth and police in Milan, Meloni’s hard-right government toughened laws on public gatherings while easing rules on detaining minors.
The government also last week agreed on a 175.2-million-euro ($195 million) aid package for truck drivers, farmers and fishermen hit by soaring fuel prices linked to the war in the Middle East.
