As leader of the Milan unit of Cub, a grassroots workers’ union, Mattia Scolari joined thousands who marched on Saturday in the northern Italian city against the Winter Olympics. “Wages never grow, young people are fleeing abroad for work and there is more and more poverty. We are fed up with an Olympics that causes mayhem in the city, only brings temporary jobs and will leave lasting ecological damage,” he said.
The rally, which brought together an array of activist groups, was predominantly peaceful, marred only by a brief clash at the end when protesters on the march’s fringe threw firecrackers, smoke bombs and bottles at the police, who in turn responded with teargas, water cannons and six arrests. On the same day, rail infrastructure in northern Italy was sabotaged in a protest action subsequently claimed by anarchists.
