Strike and marches on the Black Friday protest promoted by USB which is bringing a heterogeneous group of demonstrators to dozens of Italian squares. Students and pensioners, trade unions, ProPal and antagonists will march against high prices of living and rearmament. Alert in particular in cities already the scene of clashes and devastation in recent weeks: garrisoned center in Milan, armored Colosseum, strict measures in Bologna and Turin. 'We will isolate the violent', says the Interior Ministry. The students' mothers also parade in Bologna. Salvini also prescribes drivers but the ports are also at risk of being blocked: those of Trieste, Genoa and Livorno are manned by 'anti-war' workers.
In Milan 30 thousand in procession parade on the ring road closed to traffic. The long protest procession called by Usb and students in Milan for the general strike has arrived on the eastern ring road - previously closed to traffic - and is traveling along the stretch near via Palmanova and Cascina Gobba. The demonstrators' declared objective was to arrive on the Milan ring road to block it "peacefully", they also explained yesterday. The number of protesters rose to around 30 thousand. The idea is to have the demonstrators travel about a kilometer along the eastern ring road, to get them out in via Padova. This only if everything proceeds in an orderly manner.
In Mestre, '7 policemen bruised in tensions with the demonstrators'. Seven police officers were slightly injured, suffering bruises and cuts, after contact with the procession that was trying to break through the blockade of the Mestre demonstration route. This was reported by the Police Commissioner, Antonio Sbordone. The Police Headquarters had ordered the organizers to ban transit from the roundabout in Via Torino to the flyover ramp, which leads to the road connecting the industrial area and Venice. The protesters instead tried to continue towards the ramp and the police pushed them back.
Vicenza, organizers '3 injured among the demonstrators'. Three participants in the Vicenza march were reportedly injured, including one hit on the head by a tear gas canister, in tensions with the police that occurred near the ring road. The organizers of the parade announced it. Heading towards the ring road and attempting to force the blockade of the police, the procession was blocked with water cannons.
Tensions in Mestre after attempted breakthrough by the march. Moments of tension in Mestre (Venice) during the procession of students and workers on the Venetian mainland. Having reached the base of the overpass leading towards Venice, the demonstrators were blocked by a police cordon in riot gear. An attempt to break through to the head of the procession was stopped with some truncheon strikes from the police. After about a minute the procession regrouped and stopped.
Protesters in Turin: 'We are more than 50,000'. "We are more than 50,000." This was shouted by one of the speakers on the van opening the Turin march for the general strike. An event where the banner also parades in support of the mobilization launched in recent hours by dockworkers in 22 countries around the world. 'Dockworkers do not workshop for war', the writing on the banner that was hung on the parapet of the Mosca bridge during a break in the demonstration. "The dockers' strike - say the demonstrators - scares the governments because when the weapons don't move, the goods stop, the workers show all their power. Today we demonstrate that united workers, if they fight together, can change the fate of things, they can say that there is a conscience that says no to genocide, to oppression, to rearmament and says yes to school, to work, to healthcare, to the future".
In Cosenza, students and workers in procession, including tractors. Over 1,500 students and workers gathered this morning in Piazza Loreto, in Cosenza, to join the general strike called by USB. Students, school and university teachers, farmers with their tractors, lorry drivers, small entrepreneurs, activists and trade unionists marched in the procession.
In Palermo, 2 thousand students and workers in the streets. Just over two thousand people, including students, workers and grassroots unions, are taking part in the general strike in Palermo against high prices of living, war and rearmament, launched by the grassroots union USB throughout Italy. The procession has just left from Piazza Castelnuovo to reach the port. The school's acronyms and the agitated students who joined the strike are protesting for the state of school buildings. Among the demands also the increase in funds allocated to public health. The demonstrators display banners and signs to denounce the increase in prices of basic necessities, rents and bills, while contesting the government's rearmament policies. "Income and health for all, the rich will pay for the crisis", is one of the participants' banners.
In Turin, manure in front of the town hall. Two manure bins were overturned in front of the Turin town hall before the start of the general strike demonstration. Piazza Palazzo di Città is the meeting and starting point of the procession. "They have tried in every way to block this strike - says the speaker from the van at the head of the procession - but today this square, together with dozens of others in Italy, sends the attempts to repress us back to the sender. And to the future of m... that they want to give us, we respond with other m...".
In Naples, students, workers and families took to the streets. Several thousand people gathered in the Piazza Mancini area in Naples, a few meters from the central station of Piazza Garibaldi, where the demonstration against the high cost of living and the rearmament policy has just started, which coincides with the general strike called by the grassroots union USB. University students and delegations from schools in Naples were present. Together with them the workers and also many families with children. In the center of the square, on the statue depicting Garibaldi, a large banner has been unrolled and affixed which reads "you don't change things with kindness".
In Turin, shoving between police and independent protesters. Pushing between police and autonomous demonstrators during the demonstration promoted as part of the USB general strike in Turin. It happened in via Rossini, near via Po, where the procession of students, teachers, ATA and USB staff is marching. A group of demonstrators managed to 'force' the police blockade which prevented them from passing and rejoining the main procession. The officers then moved away a few hundred meters. The demonstration is now continuing without further tension.
In Pisa, a procession with over 2,000 people. At least 2,000 demonstrators marched in Pisa in the procession promoted by USB on the occasion of the general strike "against processions and high prices". Many radical left acronyms joined the demonstration, with hundreds of high school students taking part. The procession is peacefully crossing the main streets of the center and will also reach the Aurelia and then return to the center via the Arno river.
In Trieste, several hundred demonstrators at the entrance to the port. Around 500 people have currently gathered in front of Gate 4 of the port of Trieste from where the procession scheduled for this morning will start in about an hour, organized in continuity with the national strike called by the USB to contest the increase in the cost of living, the loss of purchasing power of wages and pensions and in opposition to the policies of war and rearmament.
In Bologna, the entrances to several high schools were blocked. The protest on the day of the strike begins in Bologna with the blocking of entrances to some high schools. Groups of students closed access to the Copernico High School, the Minghetti High School, the Fermi High School, the Arcangeli High School, the Laura Bassi High School and the Righi High School and the Serpieri Agricultural Institute. At Galvani, in via Castiglione, bins have been placed in front of the entrance doors.
In Livorno USB stations in the port area. The USB demonstrations in Ponte Genova in the port area had already begun in Livorno, around 6am, for the general strike over high prices of living, low wages and against rearmament. "There were already a lot of people at 6 in the morning", they say from the grassroots union. In addition to the demonstrations at the port gates, a demonstration with a procession will take place in the city for the protest which will start around 9am from the central Piazza Cavour and then parade through the Azeglio ports along the seafront, Via Grande, Piazza della Repubblica, Viale Avvalorati, Piazza del Municipio, Via San Giovanni, Piazza del Pamiglione and end in Piazza Micheli, in front of the monument to the Four Moors, symbol of the city. The participation of Francesca Albanese, UN rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, was announced at the city demonstration.
