from Reuters
Hundreds of protesters faced off riot police on Thursday outside the Capodimonte palace in the southern Italian city of Naples where the European Central Bank is holding one of its regular rate-setting meetings.
Television pictures showed police in riot gear barring the protesters from the grounds of the 18th century former royal palace, where ECB President Mario Draghi will hold a news conference after the meeting.
Demonstrators chanted slogans and marched behind a banner reading “Job insecurity, poverty, unemployment, speculation. Free us from the ECB!” and speakers attacked spending cuts, job losses and austerity policies they said were imposed by Brussels.
Helicopters flew above the crowd which police officials estimated at around 600. There were some scuffles and masked demonstrators threw firecrackers and smokebombs while police responded with teargas and a water cannon.
Italy, in its third recession in six years, is going through a slump which the government says has now led to an economic contraction deeper than the Great Depression of 1929 with the south of Italy particularly severely affected.
The ECB has cut its main interest rate close to zero and is planning a major asset-buying programme to stimulate lending to the euro zone economy. Draghi has also called on governments to do their part to boost confidence by making their economies more productive and competitive. (Reporting by Gavin Jones; writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
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