OWS In Rome Turns To Violence

Story

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.
Black smoke billowed into the air in downtown Rome as a small group broke away from the main demonstration and wreaked havoc in streets closed to the Colosseum.
Protesters clad in black with their faces covered threw rocks, bottles and other objects at police in riot gear. Some had held clubs, others had hammers. They threw an incendiary devices and firecrackers at banks, destroyed bank ATMs and set trash bins on fire, news reports said

I was afraid this was going to happen. Anarchist groups infiltrated an otherwise peaceful OWS demonstration in Rome today and turned it into a violent protest. I hope I’m wrong, but I fear it’s only a matter of time until this happens at other OWS in other cities around the world.
God forbid this happens to the OWS demonstrations here in the U.S.
Something such as this would nullify everything the OWS movement has been trying to accomplish.
How will this change how the world views the OWS movement?
Will this spark more violence at other demonstrations around the world?
Is this what the “Powers That Be” have been waiting for?

What do you think?

this HAS to happen. with no consequence to the elite, they will not change, just wait the storm out. good luck italy!

Once violence erupts and there is a sense of a "mob" mentality these protests will no longer be able to accomplish anything. These people need to stay peaceful.

reply to post by mikemck1976

Livestream from: "La Manifestazione di Roma"

ETA: Looks like its no longer live. Right now the stream shows footage of the clashes earlier.

Originally posted by wingsfan
this HAS to happen. with no consequence to the elite, they will not change, just wait the storm out. good luck italy!

I strongly agree. This form of action is almost to the point of being inevitable and NEEDs to occur in order for any real change to take place. If they hold out in there peacful ways then winter will come and people will go back inside. No real change or action has ever occured with peace. Something drastic needs to take place and violence is the only tactic these elites know and are drawn too. They want a war with the people, they want to smash us in and force the NWO and global laws rules and currency on us. This is the war of all WARs, this is THE war! Of course they think they will win, im pretty sure some of them even KNOW they can win. But it is up to us to defend our rights as a humanity. It is up to us to bring this system down and start from scratch with a new set of being and ways of life. It wont be easy, it wont be quick and it wont be peaceful. Many people will die on both sides but the fate of this world depends on the actions of us. Im not here to incite violence, only to relay a message and my opinion as to what may and needs to take place. This is what they want, this is what we'll give them. I speak on the behalf of the 99% BTW. I dont want it to get ugly, but things have not changed in our known history without any acts of violence. It is the way of our being as it is in human nature.

It's only a matter of time before anarchy takes over the world and many people will die. It won't be peaceful; I don't know why people expect the mob to ever be peaceful. Too optimistic in my opinion.

reply to post by ColCurious

Thanks for the link to the livestream!
I planned on being at the OWS in Cincinnati today, but I'm sick as a dog with a 103 fever. It was everything I could do to write this.

Those of us whom are contend with our own lives, regardless of high and low pay, accept the slavehood status quo for ourselves, have no right to judge those whom are suffering immensely, more so those in Europe.

We do not not know their lives, nor live them, but we do know our mankind's aspirations for peace, prosperity, progress, equality, justice and freedom, and if any of those are denied, and despite pleas that went ignored, only violence will result, as seen in Rome, and more to come soon.....

The leaders had failed, and no matter what they do, they can never extinguished the aspirations of humanity, even if they succeed with this generation, they will still fail the next innocent generations to come, if the leaders continue to ignore, use violence and determine to continue with their mistakes...

reply to post by mikemck1976
Staged! Staged! Staged!

Originally posted by him777
reply to post by mikemck1976

 

Staged! Staged! Staged!

Staged? Staged??
What do you mean by staged?
Please, enlighten me.

Well I have to ask where were all the peaceful demonstrators when this was happening?
After the hockey riots in Vancouver, I was left wondering why most people just looked on as cars and shops were burned. If those who are there for peaceful protest were to actually stop the few who were there to cause trouble, things would have been a lot different. Failing to recognize that your detractors will derail you in anyway they can is either lazy or naive. I have yet to see organizers of these events make suitable security arrangements, yet it obvious that they are aware these types of events are often co-opted by less like minded groups. It's ok to be peaceful, but even Ghandi had security people.
Peace is not achieved nor maintained by the absence of violence, but through the precise and deliberate application of deterents such as a greater threat of violence.
If organizers wish to stop these demo thugs, they must learn to supply their own security force or better yet hire the police to do the job.

There will be no smoke without fire.

Those whom are violent will resort to violence no matter where they are. So too paid provocatuers. Thus the responsibility lays with the police forces whom are employed to watch over safety, and not just simply deny citizens of their rights or turn a blind eye to violence, when a peaceful protest had long been announced.

Worse will be if the police forces themselves are the ones whom had initiated the violence.

reply to post by yosecretsquirrel

I do have to agree with you there. But the trouble with that is the authorities would have viewed the peaceful ones that decided to fight this group part of the problem. That would have made matters worse.

reply to post by mikemck1976


Yes I thought of that too. Yes they do not distinguish between anyone not in uniform. However, under the criminal code there are provisions for such intervention and although it may require a legal battle after the fact, it is still the right and responsibility of every citizen to intervene. In fact you are guilty of a crime by not doing so.
They truth is most people are unaccustomed to violence and mayhem (dispite it's prevelence in the media) and fail to react with anything but fear for their own safety. That said, it is still the responsibility of organizers to ensure a safe and secure protest.

Originally posted by yosecretsquirrel
reply to post by mikemck1976

 

Yes I thought of that too. Yes they do not distinguish between anyone not in uniform. However, under the criminal code there are provisions for such intervention and although it may require a legal battle after the fact, it is still the right and responsibility of every citizen to intervene. In fact you are guilty of a crime by not doing so.
They truth is most people are unaccustomed to violence and mayhem (dispite it's prevelence in the media) and fail to react with anything but fear for their own safety. That said, it is still the responsibility of organizers to ensure a safe and secure protest.

I still agree. But these people live in Italy. The laws work differently over there and are a lot stricter. To be imprisoned in Italy is no picnic. I would take a prison in the U.S. over one of theirs any day of the week.
Just look what Amanda Knox went through. (I know I'll draw some heat over that remark.) I believe in peaceful protest. But if something like this went down here, I would have been ready to kick ass and chew bubble gum and I don't usually have bubble gum.

Originally posted by mikemck1976

Originally posted by mikemck1976

Originally posted by him777
reply to post by mikemck1976

 

Staged! Staged! Staged!

Staged? Staged??
What do you mean by staged?
Please, enlighten me.

edit on 15-10-2011 by mikemck1976 because: Misspelling

I thought so troll.

en.wikipedia.org...

Second Line.

Originally posted by mikemck1976

Originally posted by mikemck1976

Originally posted by him777
reply to post by mikemck1976

 

Staged! Staged! Staged!

Staged? Staged??
What do you mean by staged?
Please, enlighten me.

edit on 15-10-2011 by mikemck1976 because: Misspelling

I thought so troll.

Sorry. That was uncalled for. I'm a little sick today with the flu and misunderstood what you were trying to say.

Originally posted by squidboy

Originally posted by mikemck1976

Originally posted by mikemck1976

Originally posted by him777
reply to post by mikemck1976

 

Staged! Staged! Staged!

Staged? Staged??
What do you mean by staged?
Please, enlighten me.

edit on 15-10-2011 by mikemck1976 because: Misspelling

I thought so troll.

en.wikipedia.org...

Second Line.

Could be…..
Thank you for the enlightenment.
By the way. I’ve wanted to ask someone this so I’ll ask you.
What’s up with the “second line” thing?
I see it a lot on ATS.

Originally posted by mikemck1976

Originally posted by squidboy

Originally posted by mikemck1976

Originally posted by mikemck1976

Originally posted by him777
reply to post by mikemck1976

 

Staged! Staged! Staged!

Staged? Staged??
What do you mean by staged?
Please, enlighten me.

edit on 15-10-2011 by mikemck1976 because: Misspelling

I thought so troll.

en.wikipedia.org...

Second Line.

Could be…..

Thank you for the enlightenment.

By the way. I’ve wanted to ask someone this so I’ll ask you.
What’s up with the “second line” thing?
I see it a lot on ATS.

ATS has/had a rule about replying with only one sentence (not sure if it's enforced). To avoid this many people when entering a quick link or post, will then add Second Line to get by with one line comment, without it being erased....

It's a silly rule really, considering writing Second Line adds no additional content.