Protesters break into the Colosseum in Rome after an antiwar march on 24 October
On 24 October, at about 17:40, a crowd of demonstrators forced its way into the Colosseum in Rome. According to the Italian Ministry of Culture, the monument was not damaged and nobody was injured.
That day Rome saw an authorised march, "Fuori l'Italia dalla guerra" ("Italy out of the war"). When it ended, part of the participants split off and made for the Colosseum, where they were met by police in protective gear. About a thousand students broke away from the main procession, which had begun in Piazza della Repubblica, and set off along Via dei Fori Imperiali. On Via Aventino the police did not let them through to the Circus Maximus, whereupon the demonstrators turned towards the Colosseum Archaeological Park and entered the Flavian Amphitheatre. Soon afterwards they left, with the police supervising their exit.
The demonstrators carried no political party flags, only a Palestinian flag and placards reading "No to rearmament". The organisers published a video shot inside the Colosseum with the caption "The Colosseum is occupied, join us".
The Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, followed the situation together with the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi. The ministry's statement says that there is as yet no damage and no casualties, and that this is to the credit of the security forces and the staff of the Park. On the police's orders, the metro stations Colosseo, Circo Massimo and Vittorio Emanuele were closed.
After the Colosseum, scuffles began in the streets of the centre, followed by clashes with the police not far from the Quirinal, where the police halted the procession, fearing that it would reach the government buildings. The demonstrators threw bottles at the officers, and the police responded with water cannon and tear gas.
The march itself had been announced as directed against war in general and against rearmament, the growth of military spending in Italy and in the EU as a whole.
