Roman citizens took to the streets on Friday morning to protest against house evictions on via Castrense in the San Giovanni district, with some demonstrators setting fire to dumpsters and creating barricades, preventing access to the ring road.

Police forces and firefighters came to the scene to restore order to the street, extinguishing the fires. Leaflets were handed out by protesters saying “it will be a disaster that will destroy us. Say no to evictions” and declaring that “we need houses, rights and income, not police and hit squads.”

Traffic on the ring road gradually returned to normal once the fire department were able to remove the blockade, which had been set up at rush hour on one of the most important arterial roads of the Eternal City. The blockade caused major disruption for at least half an hour.

The protest came in the wake of the closure of CAAT, a centre that provided temporary housing, on viale Castrense. According to a Facebook post on the social group Action’s page, several movements have asked for a meeting with local councils concerning the closure and decided to protest on Friday morning in response to the councils’ inaction. The Facebook group’s creators said that the closure, that leaves many without housing, is a breach of civil rights and that they wish to immediately speak with the mayor, Ignazio Marino.

In response to Friday’s protest, Marino took a strong stance against protestors, saying in a video published on Facebook: “I believe that housing is a right that must be defended, but defending this right is unacceptable if people decide to destroy the dumpsters of Italy’s capital city, blockade the streets… and causing problems which threaten the safety of the city. It is not protesting, it is vandalism.” He also said that both he and the protestors have the same belief that the right to a good home is essential, and hopes for cooperation in the future.