Thousands of students They demonstrated this Friday in more than 50 cities in Italy to protest against the Government’s cuts in areas such as education and the environment, repression and its close alliance with Israel, in what they called No Melons day (Day without Meloni).
The protests, called by various student organizations, passed peacefully except in Rome and Bologna, where moments of tension occurred between protesters and the Police.
The movement Fridays for Futureone of the organizers of this day of protests, returned to the streets this Friday to ask for attention to the climate issue and “against the current school model and against repressive policies introduced by this Government”, as well as the situation in Palestine.
“The new Budgets include cuts of 869 million euros in education. Studying should not be a privilege,” the students explained in the motivations for the protest.
“The schools we pass through every day do not belong to us. We suffer daily the consequences of an obsolete teaching and evaluation system, they send us to work in companies exploited because of the Law on the Protection of Children and Youth (PCTO) and while billions are invested in weaponsthere are those who cannot even afford books to study. It is necessary to imagine another school,” Tommaso Martelli, coordinator of the Student Union, told the media.
Tension in Bologna and Rome
moments of strain were lived mainly in Bologna, in the center of the country, where the march was blocked by the riot police and prevented from advancing, which led the protesters leading the procession to try to break the police cordon, which led to some police charges.
In Romathe students marched to the Ministry of Education, where they asked to be received by the Minister of Education, Giuseppe Valditara and displayed a banner with the image of Prime Minister Meloni with a helmet and puppets of the Prime Minister, Senator Maurizio Gasparri and the Minister of Universities, Anna Maria Bernini.
There were also moments of tension with the lthrowing eggs and paint against the Ministry and a banner with the face of Minister Valditara was burned.
The students also took to the streets of Napleswhere a march ran through the city center, starting from Piazza Garibaldi with banners and slogans against “genocide, repression and rearmament”, criticizing the government’s decisions, including foreign policy.
In Milanthe student march in Milan that brought together 10,000 people, according to the organizers, was called under the slogan “against the school of genocide” and reached Piazza della Scala, where the protesters hung a large banner with the slogan “Free Palestine.”
“We are demonstrating against this government that wants us to live in fear and subjected to its agendas. Its violence will not silence our voice,” explained a student representative with a megaphone in Milan.