Emilio Parodi
MILAN – A group of about 100 protesters threw firecrackers, smoke bombs and bottles at police in the Olympic host city of Milan on Saturday after breaking away from the main body of the demonstration.
Police in riot gear and carrying shields responded with water cannon to try to disperse the group, some of whom wore bandanas and scarves covering their faces. Order was restored after a few minutes.
Police sources said six people were detained during the clashes.
An estimated 10,000 people took to the streets of Milan on the first day of the Winter Olympics in Cortina to protest against housing costs and environmental issues.
The march, organized by grassroots unions, housing rights groups and social center community activists, aimed to highlight what campaigners say is an increasingly unsustainable urban model characterized by soaring rents and rising inequality.
Security in Italy’s financial capital has been stepped up for the Olympics.
According to statistics from the Interior Ministry, the demonstration was seen as the trigger after a far-left rally in Turin turned violent last weekend, resulting in more than 100 police officers being injured and nearly 30 protesters being arrested.
Left behind by Milan’s prosperity
The Olympics end a decade of Milan’s real estate boom following Expo 2015, Italy’s tax plan for wealthy new residents and Brexit, which lured professionals to the financial capital and left local residents squeezed by soaring living costs.
Some groups also view the Olympics as a waste of public funds and resources, noting that infrastructure projects damage the environment of mountain communities.
“I’m here because these Olympics are economically, socially and environmentally unsustainable,” said Stefano Nutini, 71, standing under the banner of the Communist Party’s Ennahda party.
He believes Olympic infrastructure has placed a heavy burden on the mountain towns hosting the first widely dispersed Winter Olympic events.
The International Olympic Committee said the Games will mainly use existing facilities to make them more sustainable.
At the front of the procession, about 50 people held stylized cardboard trees representing larches that they said were cut down to build a new toboggan track in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Another banner read: “Century-old tree, survivor of two wars… sacrificed for 90 seconds of racing on $124 million bobsleigh track.”
This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
