ROME: Protesters set fire to a government building, torched cars and smashed bank windows in Rome on Saturday in the worst violence of worldwide demonstrations against corporate greed and government cutbacks.
Tens of thousands took to the streets of the Italian capital for a march that turned violent and equal numbers rallied in Madrid and Lisbon while Wikileaks founder Julian Assange joined angry demonstrators in London.
The protests were inspired by the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in the United States and the “Indignants” in Spain, targeting 951 cities in 82 countries across the planet in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas.
It was the biggest show of power yet by a movement born on May 15 when a rally in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square sparked a worldwide movement.
Anger over unemployment and opposition to the financial elite hung over the protests, which coincided with a Paris meeting of G20 financial powers preoccupied by the eurozone debt crisis.
In Rome, the march degenerated into running street battles between groups of hooded protesters and riot police who fired tear gas and water jets into the crowd.
Security forces locked down the centre of the Italian capital and closed metro stations and major monuments including the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.
“Today is only the beginning. We hope to move forward with a global movement. There are many of us and we want the same things,” said one protester, Andrea Muraro, a 24-year-old engineering student from Padua.
“Only One Solution: Revolution!” read one placard at the protest. Another said: “We Are Not Assets in the Hands of Bankers!” One group carried a cardboard coffin with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's name on it.
A police spokeswoman said several people were arrested and at least four people were injured in the clashes, including one protester hit by a bottle as he tried to restrain militants and a police officer who broke his leg.
Backing from Italy's main trade unions and student movements boosted the numbers at the protest in Rome -- in contrast to smaller rallies elsewhere.
“Young people are right to be indignant,” Bank of Italy chief Mario Draghi was reported by Italian media as saying in informal comments to journalists on the sidelines of the Paris talks.
“They're angry against the world of finance. I understand them,” said the 64-year-old economist, adding: “We adults are angry about the crisis. Can you imagine people who are in their twenties or thirties?” As reports of the violence filtered through, he said: “It's a great shame.” The demands and the sense of urgency among the activists varied widely across the world.
Scuffles broke out in London where about 800 people rallied in the financial district by Saint Paul's Cathedral, raising banners saying: “Strike back!”; “No cuts!” and “Goldman Sachs is the work of the devil!” Three lines of police, and one line at the rear on horseback, blocked them from heading to the London Stock Exchange and pushed back against lead marchers, some wearing masks.
“I am here today mainly as a sense of solidarity with the movements that are going on around the world,” said Ben Walker, a 33-year-old teacher from the eastern English city of Norwich.
In Madrid, tens of thousands of people marched through the streets, exactly five months after Spain's so-called “indignant” protest movement was born with a rally on May 15 that turned into sprawling protest camp that occupied Madrid's central Puerta del Sol for weeks.
“I think it is very moving that the movement that was born here has extended throughout the world. It was about time for people to rise up,” said 24-year-old Carmen Martin as she marched towards Puerta del Sol.
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