Pertembung
pelajar dengan polis semasa bantahan terhadap kerajaan tempatan di pusat bandar
Turin pada 14 Disember 2013. (AFP Photo/Marco
Bertorello - think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
SitiWanMahani -Penunjuk
perasaan di beberapa bandar Itali telah bertempur dengan polis di tengah-tengah
bantahan anti-penjimatan yang telah berlangsung selama hampir satu minggu. Apa
yang dipanggil “Pitchfork” penunjuk perasaan yang berarak menentang pemotongan
dan menyeru kerajaan untuk meletakkan jawatan.
Penunjuk
perasaan melanda Rom, Venice, dan Turin pada hari Sabtu. Pelajar melem-parkan
bom cat di polis di Turin, yang menjadi pusat protes. Bandar ini telah
menyak-sikan bilangan terbesar pertempuran dengan penguatkuasaan undang-undang,
dengan pegawai-pegawai yang menggunakan gas pemedih mata untuk menyuraikan
penunjuk perasaan yang dilemparkan batu.
Penunjuk
perasaan Turin juga menyekat trafik kereta api dan kereta api terhenti di
stesen utama di bandar ini. Pemandu lori - membantah cukai yang tinggi dan
harga minyak - dan pelajar membawa trafik terhenti maya awal minggu ini.
Aktivis berkhemah di sebuah jambatan merentasi sungai bersempadan dengan
Perancis, berhampiran bandar Ventimiglia, memaksa polis untuk melangkah masuk
pihak berkuasa Bandar mengarah-kan pengukuhan dari pasukan keselamatan.
‘Pitchfork’
protesters clash with police as Italy hit
by week of anti-austerity rallies
Protesters
in several Italian cities have clashed with police amid anti-austerity protests
which have lasted for almost one week. The so-called “Pitchfork” protesters are
marching against cuts and calling for the government to resign.
Demonstrators
hit Rome, Venice, and Turin on Saturday. Students threw paint bombs at police
in Turin, which has been the epicenter of the protests. The city has seen the
largest number of clashes with law enforcement, with officers using tear gas to
disperse demonstrators who hurled stones.
Turin
protesters also blocked rail traffic and stopped trains at the city’s main
stations. Truckers - protesting high taxes and fuel prices - and students
brought traffic to a virtual standstill earlier this week. Activists pitched
tents on a bridge across a river bordering France, near the town of
Ventimiglia, forcing police to step in. City authorities ordered reinforcement
from security forces.
Seorang
lelaki memegang bom asap semasa protes oleh pelajar-pelajar terhadap kerajaan
tempatan di pusat bandar Turin pada 14 Disember 2013. (AFP Photo/Marco Bertorello - think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
10
pegawai polis cedera ringan semasa perhimpunan Sabtu di Venice, menurut AFP.
Pasukan keselamatan melepaskan gas pemedih mata sebagai penunjuk perasaan ‘far-right’
dan ‘far-left’ ditunjukkan berhampiran stesen kereta api. Dua orang telah
ditahan.
Aktivis
‘far-right’ juga bangkit di luar pejabat Suruhanjaya Eropah di Rom. Memakai
topeng bendera Itali dan nooses putih di leher mereka, mereka mengambil turun
bendera Eropah dan kemudiannya dikejar oleh polis tempatan.
Perhimpunan
merebak ke ibu negara pada hari Khamis, apabila beratus-ratus pelajar ber-tempur
dengan polis dan melemparkan mercun di luar sebuah universiti di mana
menteri-menteri kerajaan telah menghadiri persidangan.
Aktivis
telah berjanji demonstrasi yang lebih besar di ibu negara minggu depan.
Bantahan adalah yang dipentaskan yang di nama Forconi - atau pergerakan -
Pitchfork, yang pada asalnya dianjurkan oleh sekumpulan petani Sicily.
Ten
police officers were lightly injured during a Saturday rally in Venice,
according to AFP. Security forces fired tear gas as far-right and far-left
protesters demonstrated near a train station. Two people were detained.
Far-right
activists also rallied outside the European Commission's office in Rome.
Wearing Italian flag masks and white nooses around their necks, they took down
a European flag and were then chased off by local police.
The
rallies spread to the capital on Thursday, when hundreds of students clashed
with police and threw firecrackers outside a university where government
ministers were attending a conference.
Activists
have promised larger demonstrations in the capital next week. The protests are
being staged in the name of the Forconi – or Pitchfork – movement, which was
originally organized by a group of Sicilian farmers.
Pelajar
memprotes kerajaan tempatan di pusat bandar Turin pada 14 Disember 2013. (AFP Photo/Marco Bertorello - think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
“Terdapat
berjuta-juta daripada kami dan kami semakin meningkat mengikut jam. Kerajaan
ini harus untuk pergi,” Reuters memetik salah seorang pemimpin protes, Danilo
Calvani sebagai berkata awal minggu ini.
Pemandu
lori, petani, pemilik perniagaan kecil, pelajar, dan rakyat menganggur
menen-tang dasar-dasar kerajaan dan penjimatan seperti Itali menghadapi
pendapatan jatuh, pengangguran, kenaikan cukai, dan harga yang tinggi.
Pengangguran telah mencecah rekod 41 % peratus bagi orang-orang di bawah umur
25 dan berlegar pada 12 % peratus untuk seluruh penduduk. Kebanyakan penunjuk
perasaan yang mengutuk kapitalisme dan euro.
Sebagai
penunjuk perasaan menyalahkan kemelesetan 2 tahun pada ahli-ahli politik,
mereka menuntut kerajaan diganti dan parlimen dibubarkan.
14
anggota polis telah cedera sejak beberapa hari lalu. Kedai-kedai dan
harta-harta lain yang telah rosak.
"There
are millions of us and we are growing by the hour. This government has to
go," Reuters quoted one of the leaders of the protests, Danilo Calvani, as
saying earlier this week.
Lorry
drivers, farmers, small business owners, students, and unemployed citizens are
fighting against the government and austerity policies as Italy faces falling
incomes, unemployment, tax hikes, and high prices. Unemployment has hit a
record 41 percent for people below the age of 25 and is hovering at 12 percent
for the rest of the population. Many of the protesters are condemning
capitalism and the euro.
As
demonstrators blame the two-year recession on politicians, they are demanding
that the government be replaced and parliament be dissolved.
Fourteen
policemen have been injured over the past several days. Many shops and other
properties have been damaged.
Penunjuk
perasaan A membaling batu semasa protes di pusat bandar Turin 9 Disember 2013. (Reuters/Stringer - think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
Pada
hari Khamis, Menteri Dalam Negeri Angelino Alfano menyuarakan kebimbangan
bahawa rusuhan itu boleh “membawa kepada lingkaran pemberontakan terhadap
institusi kebangsaan dan Eropah.” Beliau memberitahu ahli parlimen bahawa
walaupun kerajaan memahami “penderitaan rakyat miskin,” ia tidak akan
membenarkan menerus-kan untuk keganasan.
“Kami
berhasrat untuk mempertahankan kebebasan rakyat kami untuk hidup dalam
keselamatan dan pekedai kami untuk menjalankan perniagaan,” katanya.
Alfano
berkata kerajaan telah cuba untuk bercakap dengan penunjuk perasaan, tetapi
setakat ini gagal kerana terdapat banyak kumpulan yang berbeza dan tiada
pemimpin yang jelas.
On
Thursday, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano voiced concerns that the unrest
could "lead to a spiral of rebellion against national and European
institutions." He told lawmakers that although the government understood
"the suffering of poor people," it would not allow the violence to
continue.
"We
intend to defend the freedom of our citizens to live in safety and of our
shopkeepers to do business," he said.
Alfano
said that the government has tried to talk with the protesters, but has thus
far failed because there are many different groups and no clear leaders.
