Usb general strike, evening tensions after a day of peaceful rallies
On October 31, the strike called by the Usb union brought demonstrators onto the streets in more than sixty Italian cities. The morning passed without significant incidents, but in the evening Rome and Turin saw objects thrown and charges by law enforcement.
The general strike called by Usb for October 31 involved more than sixty squares across Italy. According to estimates released by the organizing union itself, total participants numbered one and a half million, a figure that reflects self-reported turnout not verified by independent sources.
The day saw a convergence of different sectors: farmers, school workers and those from the film and audiovisual industry joined the mobilization, in a front the union presented as cutting across production categories.
In Bologna, the march, which set off from Piazza Maggiore, gathered around thirty thousand people. Mayor Matteo Lepore commented on the turnout, stating: “These squares can change the Country”. Despite some moments of tension recorded on Via Stalingrado, the Bologna march ended without direct clashes with law enforcement.
The scenario changed in the evening in Rome and Turin, where the peaceful morning mobilization gave way to more marked tensions. In both city centers, bottles and other objects were thrown, to which law enforcement responded with charges and the use of water cannons. Available sources do not specify a count of injured or detained for the two episodes.
Usb, commenting on the overall outcome of the day, stated through its own channels: “We certainly are not stopping here”, signaling its intention to continue the mobilization in the coming weeks.
On the matter there are currently two independent informational sources: the account of the day provided by Sky TG24 and that, more limited to local news, of Resto del Carlino on Bologna. The two reports agree on the main features — widespread participation, cross-sector involvement, evening tensions concentrated in two cities — but no institutional source has so far provided an official count of participants as an alternative to the union’s figures.
The question of the actual number of demonstrators remains open, given that the figures in circulation come from the organization promoting the strike and not from an assessment by law enforcement or the Prefecture, bodies that generally provide their own estimates on occasions of this kind. As of publication, no alternative official figures are available.
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