[quote=CBS](CBS/AP) ROME - Italian police fired tear gas and water cannons Saturday in Rome as violent protesters turned a demonstration against corporate greed into a riot, smashing shop and bank windows, torching cars and hurling bottles.
The protest in the Italian capital, which left dozens injured, was part of the "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrations against capitalism and austerity measures that went global Saturday.
Tens of thousands nicknamed "the indignant" marched in major cities across Europe, as protests that began in New York linked up with long-running demonstrations against government cost-cutting and failed financial policies in Europe.
Special section: The "Occupy" movement
Does "Occupy" movement need to get specific?
Heavy smoke billowed into the air in downtown Rome as a small group broke away from the main demonstration and wreaked havoc in streets close to the Colosseum.
Protesters look at a parked car on fire during a demonstration, in dowtown Rome on October 15, 2011. (Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)
Clad in black with their faces covered, protesters threw rocks, bottles and incendiary devices at banks and Rome police in riot gear. Some protesters had clubs, others had hammers. They destroyed bank ATMs, set trash bins on fire and assaulted at least two news crews from Sky Italia.
TV footage showed police in riot gear charging the protesters and firing water cannons at them. Several police forces and protesters were injured, including one man trying to stop the protesters from throwing bottles. TV footage showed a young woman with blood covering her face, while the ANSA news agency said one man had lost two fingers when a firecracker exploded.
In the city's St. John in Lateran square, police vans came under attack, with protesters hurling rocks and cobblestones and smashing the vehicles. One police van was set ablaze, but the two people inside were able to abandon the vehicle. Peaceful demonstrators who could not leave the square climbed up the staircase outside the Basilica, one of the oldest in Rome.
Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno blamed the violence on "a few thousand thugs from all over Italy, and possibly from all over Europe." He said some Rome museums were forced to close down because of the violence.
Protestors turn over trash containers during a demonstration, in Rome on October 15, 2011. (Credit: MARIO LAPORTA/AFP/Getty Images)
Some protesters also trashed offices of the Defense Ministry and set them on fire, causing the roof to collapse, reports said.
Police were out in force as up to 100,000 protesters had been expected a day after Premier Silvio Berlusconi barely survived a confidence vote in Parliament. Italy, which has a national debt ratio second only to Greece in the 17-nation eurozone, is rapidly becoming a focus of concern in Europe's debt crisis.
"People of Europe: Rise Up!" read one banner in Rome. Some peaceful demonstrators turned against the violent group and tried to stop them, hurling bottles, Sky Italia and ANSA said. Others fled, scared by the raw violence.
ANSA said four people from an anarchist group were arrested early Saturday morning, with police seizing helmets, anti-gas masks, clubs and hundreds of bottles from their car.
Elsewhere, bright autumn sunshine and a social media campaign brought out thousands across Europe.
In Frankfurt, continental Europe's financial hub, some 5,000 people protested at the European Central Bank, and some were setting up a tent camp aiming at permanently occupying the green space in front of the ECB building.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange spoke to about 500 demonstrators outside St. Paul's cathedral in London, calling the international banking system a "recipient of corrupt money."
U.K. police contained most London demonstrators in the streets around the cathedral, near the city's financial district. Protesters erected tents and asked supporters to bring them blankets, food and water as they settled down for the evening.
Several hundreds more marched in the German cities of Berlin, Cologne and Munich and the Austrian capital of Vienna, while protesters in Zurich, Switzerland's financial hub, carried banners reading "We won't bail you out yet again" and "We are the 99 percent."
In Brussels, thousands of marched through the downtown area chanting "Criminal bankers caused this crisis!" They pelted the stock exchange building with old shoes then marched on to the European Union sector.
Protesters also accused NATO, which has its headquarters in Brussels, of wasting taxpayer money on the wars in Libya and Afghanistan, saying that one European soldier deployed to Afghanistan costs the equivalent of 11 high school teachers.
In Helsinki, around 300 activists held a peaceful, creative rally with homemade signs and stalls full of art and food.
In Spain, the Indignant Movement established the first around-the-clock "occupation" protest camps in cities and towns across the country beginning in May and lasting for weeks. Six marches were converging Saturday on Madrid's Puerta del Sol plaza just before dusk.
Portuguese angry at their government's handling of the economic crisis were protesting in downtown Lisbon later. Portugal is one of three European nations — the others being Greece and Ireland — that have already needed an international bailout.
Across the Atlantic, hundreds gathered in Toronto's financial district, converging close to the Toronto Stock Exchange and the headquarters major Canadian banks to decry what they called government-abetted corporate greed. Protests were also being held in Montreal and Vancouver.
In New York, protesters marched on a Chase bank to protest the role banks played in the financial crisis, and demonstrations were culminating in an "Occupation Party" in Times Square.
Jesse LaGreca, a leader of Occupy Wall Street, said on "The Early Show on Saturday Morning" the spread of the protests around the world "speaks to the amount of resolve people have. We are seeing our future stolen away from us while the wealthiest one percent get richer and richer, and I'm glad people are taking a role and participating in their democracy."
The growth is "happening very organically," he says. "There is communication (among protesters worldwide) through Twitter, through Facebook, through social media and facebook, though social media, and just through friends who are concerned about each other. But the organic nature of this movement just can't be denied."[/quote]
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[img]http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/10/15/Protests_Rome_129260104_244x183.jpg[/img]
Oh boy! Here we go!
Suddenly around the world volience sparks, causing the most riots ever at the same time.
Anarchists are going to love this.
I don't have enough Popcorn eating .gifs for this
That's a shame, incidents like this can damage the credibility of the rest of the movement.
[quote]demonstrations against capitalism and austerity measures that went global Saturday.
[/quote]
Are people really that stupid these days, how would protesting AGAINST austerity measures do anything when the world is in a really bad financial crisis, it's like they expect to still live lives of luxury when the world governments are in massive debts and have huge deficits. They're the ones that are truly greedy, clearly, they can't cut-back and accept that everyone needs to pull together to get out of it, it's like with in greece with the retirement age set at like 52, and they protest when they want it to be at 60 to combat austerity, it's pathetic.
[quote]Clad in black with their faces covered, protesters threw rocks, bottles and incendiary devices at banks and Rome police in riot gear. Some protesters had clubs, others had hammers. They destroyed bank ATMs, set trash bins on fire and assaulted at least two news crews from Sky Italia.[/quote]
Do these dumbfucks know what the term 'occupy' means?
These idiots don't even know what they're protesting anymore.
I'm not surprised Italy sparked like this; the government there is ass backwards corrupt. The Prime Minister puts the Mafia to shame.
Anyone who results to violence like this is a fool. All it's going to do is give them a reason to be more strict. There's no hope of winning with violence, the best thing to do is just to stop working for the corporations. Giving the government a reason to gun down its people is a very bad idea, and they can do it pretty easily.
And thus, riot ninja has been born.
[IMG]http://gyazo.com/5a065745581f462e520ee0fd8e008fa3.png[/IMG]
And joined the riot squad
ASSEMBLE RIOTERS
[IMG]http://media.egotvonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/riot-dog-2.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Soviet Bread;32797721]I'm not surprised Italy sparked like this; the government there is ass backwards corrupt. The Prime Minister puts the Mafia to shame.[/QUOTE]
This is true. However, I think they're trying to change their government in the wrong way. You can almost always avoid violent protests, unless the government is really oppressive.
Rioters are fools.
When the government has enough, they'll send in soldiers to control or kill them.
[QUOTE=Hans-Gunther 3.;32797793]Rioters are fools.When the government has enough, they'll send in soldiers to control or [b]kill them.[/b][/QUOTE]What the hell are you talking about?
The difference between protestors and rioters... Protestors merely object to something and make it well known that they do not approve, but rioters just give them a bad name and act violently, sometimes forgetting why and for what they are fighting.
Sure, pacify the rioters who've turned violent, but don't you dare hurt the actual protestors. Take your wrongdoings like a real boy, governments!
Romans tearing shit up? That's certainly new.
It's ALWAYS the Romans.
I went to the one in Dallas, it's so unorganized and immature I couldn't take it seriously.
Italy is really messed up. I'm not really that surprised.
Ironically, this is the exact [I]opposite[/I] of "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". They, Romans, are acting [B]un[/B]like (nearly) everyone else in the #Occupy movement.
This is like the shit that happened in england a couple months ago..
THE REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN, DOWN WITH THE BOURGEOISIE!
The picture of that guy in the mask is badass.
I never expected this whole "occupy" movement to spread anywhere else.
What's next?
Im curious, what is "Occupy"?
Cuz Im seeing all these Occupy [Country] threads.
I thought this was going to be a joke about the occupy protests happening in Rome thousands of years ago.
Wouldn't be the first time barbarians burned and pillaged Rome.
people this is Rome, its 10x worse over there. motives for the occupy movements vary.
that being said, i can imagine the same thing happening to the USA in the future since the government is trying its hardest to avoid the movement.
Rome has a quota of violent riots to fill
Why aren't they wearing togas and those little leaf things on their ear?
Is this like a different rome
[QUOTE=AJisAwesome15;32799587]Why aren't they wearing togas and those little leaf things on their ear?
Is this like a different rome[/QUOTE]
hah.
I laugh.
[QUOTE=Sharker;32797644]These idiots don't even know what they're protesting anymore.[/QUOTE]
It's Italy, point in any random direction and you'll find something to protest over there.
Their whole system is corrupt as fuck, if anyone in the first world should be rioting it's Italy.
[editline]15th October 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Pvt. Martin;32799376]Im curious, what is "Occupy"?
Cuz Im seeing all these Occupy [Country] threads.[/QUOTE]
Started as Occupy Wall Street and spread
Protests about income inequality basically
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