Italian police clash with protesters at Milan Expo

Italian police have fired tear gas at demonstrators as protests overshadowed the start of the Milan Expo, a global food fair that Italy’s government hopes will help to put a new face on the country after years of economic decline.

Thick clouds of smoke from burning cars filled parts of central Milan, where groups of protesters, their faces masked against the fumes, threw stones and faced off against lines of police in riot gear.

The confrontation came hours after an opening ceremony at the Expo site, where prime minister Matteo Renzi hailed the start of a six-month-long showpiece of culture and technology focusing on the theme of sustainable food production.

The fair, which follows the 2010 Expo in Shanghai, mobilised a diffuse range of left-wing protesters, from anti-globalisation and environmental activists, to students and anti-austerity campaigners, who see it as a symbol of waste and corruption.

Thousands of police were deployed to counter the threat of violence before the event, which Mr Renzi has been counting on to reinforce fragile signs of economic recovery, after years of a recession that has hit young people especially hard.

"Today it is as though Italy is embracing the world," Mr Renzi said at the opening, which featured a flight of jets trailing the colours of the Italian flag.

“All you experts who kept saying ‘We’ll never do it’ - this is your answer.

“I like to think that tomorrow begins today.”

Instead, the elegant centre of Milan was transformed into a battleground, with sirens and periodic bangs from flash bombs and firecrackers ringing out against the shouts of protesters.

Breakaway groups

The main part of the demonstration was halted by police vans blockading the street, but breakaway groups of demonstrators fought running battles that left Milan’s streets littered with makeshift barricades and debris.

Police detained a number of demonstrators. At one point, officers who put a woman in handcuffs were surrounded by an angry crowd demanding that she be released.

There was no immediate official estimate of the damage caused, which included smashed street windows and burned-out cars.

How far the protests will tarnish the image of the Expo remains to be seen. They are likely to come as a severe embarrassment for the government, after the optimism of the opening ceremony.

Some 10 million tickets to the event have already been sold, and officials are counting on some 20 million people attending. They hope overall revenues will top €10 billion, with half of that coming from foreign visitors drawn to Milan.

The event had already been tarnished by a corruption investigation that saw several top officials arrested, as well as cost overruns and construction hold-ups, with large parts of the site still not ready for opening day.

Pope Francis

Pope Francis, who addressed the opening ceremony via a televised link-up, referred to the irony of a global mega-spectacle dependent on corporate sponsorship deals being devoted to sustainable development and feeding the poor.

“In certain ways, the Expo itself is part of this paradox of abundance, it obeys the culture of waste and does not contribute to a model of equitable and sustainable development.”

Pope Francis said that the real protagonists of the event should be “the faces of the men and women who are hungry, who fall ill and even die because of an insufficient or harmful diet”.

Cultural events, futuristic architecture, a “supermarket of the future” and dozens of restaurants fill the site, which, critics note, required more than 1 million square metres of farmland on the outskirts of Milan to be concreted over.

In all, more than 140 countries are taking part in the showpiece. China, an increasing presence in Italy after a string of high-profile business acquisitions, is particularly well-represented.

Reuters