![]() Most participants in the demonstration were wearing masks as they called for clear and effective policies to tackle the economic fall-out brought about by restrictions. Vast crowds gathered on the streets of Barcelona - with angry protesters setting dustbins on fire and marching while clutching signs reading: 'F*** Covid-talism'. Meanwhile in Spain, authorities in the Catalonia region are considering imposing a lockdown on weekends to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Protesters took to the streets of up to a dozen cities on Monday, including Treviso, Trieste, Viareggio, Latina, Rome, Naples, Salerno, Palermo, Siracusa and Catania. While Italians complied peacefully to the spring lockdown, there has been an immediate pushback against the renewed restrictions. ![]() Many small businesses, still badly bruised by an initial nationwide lockdown in March and April, say the new restrictions could bankrupt them. But infection rates have been rebounding rapidly since the start of October.Ī number of regions, including Lombardy and Piedmont, have also imposed nighttime curfews. Italy, once the country hardest hit by the pandemic in the industrialised world, has been overtaken by others in Europe including France and Britain. Looking to calm tensions, the government has said it will present a package of measures on Tuesday to support businesses hurt by the new restrictions. In another echo of the spring crisis, Italy's foreign ministry on Monday advised against unnecessary travel to other European countries and warned that people could get trapped if the situation worsens. Police in Barcelona stand by one of the overturned rubbish bins as they face off with protesters, some of whom came from a Catalan pro-independence party 'These were actions that not only do not belong in any way to the reasons for the protest,' she said, accusing protesters of committing violent acts 'on the backs of workers, traders and entrepreneurs who civilised their legitimate dissent last night'. One of them was a man allegedly caught setting fire to rubbish bins, who was arrested along with a 17-year-old girl, while two Egyptian nationals were arrested for looting at a Gucci store.Ĭhiara Appendino, the mayor of Turin, today condemned the 'criminal actions of the violent people who polluted the peaceful demonstration of traders, entrepreneurs and workers'. The 28 people arrested in Milan included 13 minors, according to news agency ANSA, while six people were detained for fires and looting in Turin. 'Freedom, freedom, freedom,' crowds chanted as they confronted police in the city centre - with some shouting conspiracy theories like 'the coronavirus does not exist'.įootage showed Molotov cocktails and other projectiles being thrown at a police car during the protests which ended with around a dozen officers being injured and dozens of protesters arrested. There were also clashes in Milan, the capital of the neighbouring Lombardy region, an area that has borne the brunt of the Covid-19 epidemic in Italy. In Turin, police responded with volleys of tear gas as they tried to restore order on Monday night. The new state of emergency will initially last for 15 days but the Government plans to ask parliament for a six-month extension, meaning the restrictions - which include a 11pm to 6am curfew - could be enforced until early May 2021. The demonstrations came just one day after Spain declared a second nationwide state of emergency covering all regions except the Canary Islands. Meanwhile in Barcelona, demonstrators set rubbish bins on fire in the streets - before riot police intervened to bring the chaos to an end. In Milan at least 28 people were arrested after protesters threw Molotov cocktails at police in the capital of Lombardy, the original epicentre of the virus in Italy which is now seeing a resurgence of cases. The city's mayor today berated the violent protesters who she said had 'polluted' a demonstration by bar and restaurant owners who are facing another economic slump. Witnesses said a number of luxury stores, including a Gucci shop, were ransacked in central Turin as crowds of youths took to the streets after nightfall, letting off huge firecrackers and lighting coloured flares. In Italy, violence was reported in at least two major northern cities, Milan and Turin, as vast crowds protested freedom-limiting restrictions enforced to tackle a second surge in coronavirus cases. ![]() ![]() Protests erupted across Europe last night as thousands of angry demonstrators called on their governments to reconsider a second-round of lockdown restrictions. ![]()
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