ROME - At what the organisers had promised was to be a peaceful protest, yet more bouts of violence between police and around 500 protesters broke out during a sit in anti-lockdown event in Rome. There were similar violent scenes throughout the centre of Rome as were seen last week.

  Protesters of the ‘IoApro’ (I open) movement marched down Via del Corso, Muro Torto, Via die Prefetti, and through Piazza del Popolo and Piazzale Flaminio, with fights breaking out at many of these places. The aim for many of the protesters was to reach Palazzo Montecitorio, the seat of the Chamber of Deputies, though were mostly blocked by police.

  The event had begun peacefully, with chants of “reopen immediately” and “the fear of dying is not letting us live,” but soon turned violent as protesters - the majority of whom were restauranteurs worried about the fate of their businesses during lockdown - began trying to break down the police cordon. 

  There were several fights reported in Piazza San Silvestro, where members of CasaPound, the Italian neo-fascist movement, has also joined the protest.

  The protesters, many without masks, began to throw firecrackers at the police in a bid to break through the cordons blocking their path. Several bins in the street were also destroyed.

  All access roads to Montecitorio were closed and the police resorted to armoured divisions and water cannons to control the protest.

  Police officers seized many of the most violent - several seeming intent on provoking the officers - with two particular girls who had been arrested in Piazza del Popolo beginning to violently throw themselves against the officers’ shields. Even before the protest had officially started around 50 people heading towards Piazza San Silvestro were stopped and identified by police.

  “We are not tax numbers, we are people, we are families,” said one protester, come all the way from Naples, “we are not delinquents, we are people who have been working 14 hour days.”

 Another said, “they deny us even the right to protest, it was a real challenge to get here.”

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