'Occupy Wall Street' goes global, Rome police battle rioters

Rome rioters
Protesters hurl objects at police as a burning car is seen in foreground, in Rome, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. Italian police fired tear gas and water cannons as protesters in Rome turned a demonstration against corporate greed into a riot Saturday, smashing shop and bank windows, torching cars and hurling bottles. The protest in the Italian capital was part of "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrations against capitalism and austerity measures that went global Saturday, leading to dozens of marches and protests worldwide.
AP Photo/Angelo Carconi

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO and MEERA SELVA, Associated Press

ROME (AP) - 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.

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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.

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.

Spain's "indignants"
Protesters wave their hands at the Puerta del Sol square in Madrid, on October 15, 2011, during a worldwide demonstration against corporate greed and government cutbacks. Protesters launched worldwide street demonstrations against corporate greed and biting cubacks in a rolling action targetting 950 cities in 82 countries. Inspired by America's "Occupy Wall Street" and Spain's "Indignants", people took to the streets in Sydney, Hong Kong and Tokyo in the opening hours of the unprecedented global outcry.
DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images

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.

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.

Occupy Wall Street protesters
Members of Occupy Wall Street stage a protest near Wall Street in New York, on October 15, 2011. The Occupy Wall Street movement went global with groups spanning the globe from Asia to Europe, and in every US state, staging demonstrations and other actions.
EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images

"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.

Greek "indignants"
Greek indignants gather at central Athens Syntagma squar in front of the Greek Parliament during a demonstration on October 15, 2011. Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States and Spain's "Indignants", people began taking to the streets across the world, targeting 951 cities in 82 countries.
LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images

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."

A child walks past London riot police
A young girl walks past a line of Police Officers as protesters pitch tents outside St Paul's Cathedral during the 'Occupy London' protest on October 15, 2011 in London, England. Thousands of people are taking to the streets in cities across the world today in demonstrations inspired by the 'Occupy Wall Street' protests in the United States, against the global financial system.
Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

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.

Support for the anti-capitalist protest movement was light in Asia, where the global economy is booming. In Sydney, around 300 people turned out, while another 200 people in Tokyo chanted anti-nuclear slogans outside the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the tsunami-hit Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

In the Philippines, some 100 people marched on the U.S. Embassy in Manila to support the Occupy Wall Street protests.

Selva wrote from London. Sylvia Hui in London, Kristen Gelineau in Sydney, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Oliver Teves in Manila, Harold Heckle in Madrid, Juergen Baetz in Berlin, and David Mac Dougall in Helsinki contributed to this story.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)