TRIESTE - Around 20,000 ‘No Green Pass’ demonstrators were expected to turn out for more protests on Friday, according to the city prefect Valerio Valenti, evidencing the debate is still far from settled.

 The decree obliging all Italy’s workers to show a Green Pass to enter their workplace came into force on Oct. 15. Demonstrations have been taking place across the country against the new rule, including a senator, Bianca Laura Granato, refusing to show her Green Pass to enter Palazzo Madama Tuesday “in solidarity with the demonstrators in Trieste and all over Italy.” Granato has been suspended from parliamentary work for 10 days as a consequence.

 The leader of Trieste’s No Green Pass protests, Stefano Puzzer, said, “our rebellion is growing, the dockers of Trieste wanted to defend and show solidarity among themselves, then they realised that all the workers of Trieste had the same problem. Now they want to make the voices of workers in other cities heard as well.”

 Meanwhile, the Federation of Italian Pharmacists (FOFI) has asked the government to be able to extend their opening hours to accommodate increased demand for Covid-19 tests.

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