Anti-Wall Street demonstrations turned violent yesterday in Rome, London and Berlin as the protest movement spread to 82 countries.
In Rome, some 70 people were injured when rioting broke out near the Colosseum.
Smoke billowed as small armies of militants — including members of the anarchist group Black Bloc — broke away from 100,000 peaceful demonstrators marching under a sea of red flags in support of Occupy Wall Street.
The breakaway groups, carrying clubs and hammers, trashed offices belonging to Italy’s Defense Ministry, smashed bank and store windows, torched cars and hurled bottles.
As police in riot gear retaliated with tear gas and water cannons, the violent fringe protesters set off smoke bombs and fireworks.
Some in the crowd stoned a Ferrari and a Mercedes whose drivers had unwittingly steered into the clashes.
Peaceful protesters huddled on the steps of St. John Lateran basilica for shelter as the bloody battle raged in front of them.
Two people were injured, one critically. Thirty police were also injured.
It was some of the worst violence in Rome in years.
Rome’s protesters included the unemployed, students and pensioners. The street riots came at a time when Italy is struggling with its own debt crisis and a day after Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi barely survived a confidence vote in Parliament.
The Occupy movement also surged to Germany and Great Britain.
Fights between police and protesters broke out in Berlin, where 4,000 people marched with banners calling for an end to capitalism.
In London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange spoke to a crowd of 1,000, then threw sweets to them before being whisked away by cops.
In Hong Kong, 600 demonstrators gathered in the financial district and held signs calling banks a cancer.
In Portugal, which has been hit hard with economic problems, 40,000 people marched.