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Covid curfew protesters clash with police in Naples

Rome, Oct 24 (efe-epa).- Clashes between police and protesters erupted in the southern Italian city of Naples overnight as tempers boiled over following the imposition of a curfew between 11 pm and 6 am in the region of Campania.

Groups of demonstrators set garbage containers on fire and threw rocks towards police officers during the unrest on Friday evening.

Several young protesters attacked police cars in the area and blocked some of the streets in the city’s historic center.

“Tonight we have witnessed real criminal behavior toward the police. No condition of discomfort, however humanly understandable, can in any way justify the violence,” Naples police commissioner Alessandro Giuliano said.

Vincenzo de Luca, the president of the Campania, on Friday said he would soon order a lockdown across the region because the nightly curfew had not been “sufficient.”

“We should close everything and we should close today, not tomorrow. We are a step away from tragedy,” he said, adding that the lockdown would last “one month or 40 days, and then we will see. Without drastic solutions, we won’t make it.”

Protests also took place in the capital Rome, where shops in normally busy areas like the central Campo De’ Fiori square closed early ahead of a curfew imposed in the region of Lazio.

Business-owners, already struggling due to the lack of tourists, demonstrated against the measures.

Giuseppe Conte, the Italian prime minister, said the new measures in the country were designed to prevent the need for another nationwide confinement.

The government is poised to announce a raft of tighter restrictions this weekend, which could limit freedom of movement and order bars and restaurants to close down at 6 pm.

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