IN THE aftermath of a day of rioting that marred Saturday’s global “Day Of Rage” protest in Rome, protesters and centre-right government figures yesterday differed bitterly over the reasons for the violence, which left more than 130 people injured and led to 12 arrests.
While many on the centre-right argued that the violence was at least partly attributable to the uncompromising criticism directed by the opposition at prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, many of those who took part in Saturday’s demonstration suggested that the march had been infiltrated by a small number of armed anarchists, known as “black bloc”, who for too long were allowed a free hand by the police.
In scenes similar to those that marked the 2001 G7 meeting in Genoa, Saturday’s march ended with full-scale urban guerrilla warfare in Rome’s Piazza San Giovanni as black bloc activists armed with iron bars, rocks, cobbles and even fire extinguishers attacked police vehicles, burned parked cars and smashed up bank windows and ATM machines.
On websites and blogs yesterday, many protesters expressed their dismay at the failure of the police to intervene earlier in a five-hour riot that caused an estimated €2 million worth of damage to public and private property. Many protesters pointed out that the black bloc militants, who arrived already wearing balaclava masks or motor cycle helmets and carrying iron bars, had seemed very organised, infiltrating different sections of the march.
In one of the most controversial incidents, rioters stormed into the Church of Marcellino and Pietro in central Via Merulana, damaging statues, crucifixes and a variety of religious objects. One amateur film clip, much viewed on TV and the web yesterday, showed one rioter emerging from the church with a statue of the Madonna in his arms. The rioter is seen not only smashing the figure on to the ground but also tramping on the broken remains.
This particular act of vandalism inevitably provoked an angry reaction from the Holy See, with Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi commenting: “We express our condemnation of the unmotivated violence and of those acts which offend the sensibility of believers . . . ”
Whilst the peaceful protesters, the centre-left and the centre-right all expressed their contrasting views on the implications of the riot, many commentators asked how, of all the 80-plus similar demonstrations worldwide, only the Italian one in Rome was marred by violence. "Yesterday, we once again showed to the world the anomaly that is Italy and today we are yet again ashamed. How come it happened only here?", commented a leader in Turin daily La Stampa.
Centre-left Democratic Party (PD) leader Pier Luigi Bersani offered an answer to that polemical question, arguing that Saturday's violence illustrated the extent to which the economic crisis was hitting hard in Italy: "If you are on the front line of the crisis, you are also on the front line of provocation. Many people think that we are going to end up like Greece and so they think they can treat us like Greece, be they speculators or provocateurs. . . ", the PD leader said yesterday.
In contrast, the government pointed a finger of rebuke at the centre-left. Defence minister Ignazio La Russa suggested that the violent demonstrators perhaps felt themselves justified by the “strident tones” of those opposed to the Berlusconi government. Senior centre-right figure Fabrizio Cicchitto also criticised those, such as Ferrari boss Luca Di Montezemolo, and Bank Of Italy governor Mario Draghi, who last weekend expressed their sympathy with the worldwide “Day of Anger” protest.
Meanwhile hundreds of protesters camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London to support the anti-capitalist “Occupy London” movement have been supported by the cathedral’s canon, who asked police to move away from its steps.
Thousands of protesters gathered around St Paul’s on Saturday after police cordoned off Paternoster Square – the location of London’s stock exchange. Eight arrests were made and six are due to be charged today, but protesters have complained of police harassment.
Dr Giles Fraser confirmed that he had asked police to move away from the cathedral’s steps in order to allow Sunday worshippers to get in easily for services yesterday. “People have a right to protest and it’s been very good natured. The gospel reading was about God and money, quite extraordinarily, so I did preach about it. Some people from the protest came in for Mass. It was really good to see them as well.”