The procession promoted by the 1 June Committee against the Meloni government started from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele in Rome around 2.30pm. Representatives of around 50 trade unions and representatives of “Power to the People” gathered in an armored square. Also on the streets were associations, university students, Palestinian communities and migrants. Waving red flags of the communist party and Palestine as they march towards Porta Pia. The demonstration was organized to contest the policies of the Meloni government, to ask for “a stop to the genocide in Gaza” and Italy’s exit from NATO. Tensions in the late afternoon between protesters and police.
The parade
The march, as Dire reports, was joined by the La Sapienza collectives and the most militant fringes of the protest. “We protest for various reasons – explained one of the spokespersons of the movement during the march – against this government which is totally open to American policies and which continues to send weapons and which compresses freedoms. An executive which has hurled the police against the students in Pisa as Rome. We are not willing to be dragged into a world war. Furthermore, we want to forcefully oppose the alleged reforms of a Government which in doing so increasingly reduces social and economic rights”.
Attendance
According to the organizers, there are over 10,000 participants. “In the square – we read in a note from the organizers – also Giuliano Granato and Marta Collot, national spokesperson for Potere al Popolo”, according to which “the two demonstrations in Rome on 1 June are something more than two opposing squares – reports Dire – in a small way they are two ideas of a different country. Indeed, two different countries. In Piazza del Popolo, with Meloni, the country of banks, of big builders and beach resorts, of anti-abortionists, of Piantedosi, of arms companies, of Netanhyahu’s friends. and of the accomplices of the genocide in Palestine. In Piazza Vittorio, the country of Angela who is no longer able to pay the variable loan to the bank, of Peppe who wants the billions allocated to be used for the interests of the populations of Calabria and Sicily, of Marica, worker for years at a beach, always with a starvation salary and zero days of rest, of Rossella who had an abortion and doesn’t feel guilty and doesn’t want the Inquisition in the clinics, of Lorenzo a student killed while alternating between school and work, of Soumaila who works in the fields and fights for a regular contract and a minimum wage of 10 euros an hour, of Giulia who has been taking part in all the demonstrations for Palestine for months and today is in one of the university camps calling for a stop to the Israeli genocide” . The procession will end at Porta Pia with closing speeches from all participating organizations.
Rally of the Brothers of Italy
At the same time, in Piazza del Popolo, there was the final rally of the Fratelli d’Italia electoral campaign in which Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also took part. The young people of Fdi, Gioventù Nazionale, arrived at the event displaying a maxi silhouette of Elly Schlein: “Even if she is upset, write Giorgia” we read. At the end of the snake, Dire reports, colored by many Italian flags, a huge sign with the writing: “Identified vs. globalists. We will not be the last generation”, a clear mockery of the young environmentalists of the Last Generation.
Clashes
Around 5.30pm, clashes occurred at the tail end of the demonstration against the Meloni government. The tensions in via Vicenza. Here the group of La Sapienza collectives, Dire reports, tried to break through a police cordon with plexiglass shields. The group was pushed back with tear gas after a long melee.
Article being updated
