Protesters in Rome rail against G20 and summit host Draghi

ROME — Thousands of protesters marching in Rome on Saturday had a message for G20 leaders gathered in the city to tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues: You’re part of the problem.

The summit, being held in the fascist-era EUR area of the city, faced protests on two fronts — a larger demonstration with an international focus and a smaller one targeting Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and his government. Climate change activists, schoolchildren, labor unions and Communists were among those taking to the streets.

Some said the G20 could only offer superficial solutions, while others accused the political establishment represented by the leaders of propping up a model of economic development that exacerbated global problems.

Following violent anti-vax protests earlier this month, Rome’s security forces were on high alert. Around 5,000 extra police and law enforcement officers were deployed for the summit weekend, as well as snipers, helicopters and a no-fly zone.

A sit-in by climate activists blocked a thoroughfare from the city center to the G20 venue on Saturday morning but the protesters were removed by police.

Beating drums and setting off flares, militants from left-wing organizations and unions joined students and Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion activists who marched on Rome’s Mouth of Truth monument in the afternoon.

Some made a connection between the G20 and the COP26 climate talks that begin in Scotland on Sunday. They held banners such as “From Rome to Glasgow your initiatives are the problem” and “The catastrophe is here, it’s time to act.”  

Flavio, a 17-year-old high school student with a group from his school in Rome, said his generation had “a right to be angry” because “today’s political reality has brought us to environmental catastrophe.” But until people question the current capitalist economic model, “nothing will be resolved,” he said.  

Cristina Re, a Ph.D. student from Bologna, pointed to a cyclone in Sicily this week as an example of a growing number of cases of extreme weather. “We shouldn’t have to get to human extinction for them to listen to us,” she said. “Our message to the G20 is: Don’t get comfortable because we won’t watch while you destroy our future.”

Paolo Spena, 26, an organizer in a Communist youth organization, said the pandemic “had showed that leaders put profit ahead of the health of people. Everything is worse than our parents’ generation. The only thing we can do is be here in person, and fight for our future.”

White-bearded environmental activist Silvio Marconi called the G20 “theater.” He said, “There won’t be any meaningful change because it would put at risk the economic system we have had for 200 years. They will embrace, they won’t do anything. It will be the same in Glasgow.”

Riccardo Carraro, an ecologist and spokesman for the Acrobax climate camp, accused the world leaders of putting forward only “superficial solutions” and of greenwashing.

“We want serious measures against climate change, drastic reduction in investment in fossil fuels,” he said.

A separate protest against Draghi’s government in Piazza San Giovanni attracted hundreds of demonstrators opposed to the EU and NATO, as well as anti-vaxxers who disagree with the prime minister’s strict vaccine regulations.

From a stage behind a giant “NoDraghi” banner, organizer Salvatore Catello told the crowd: “Today we have to confront the powers of the world who have always controlled our lives.”

Some protesters were angry that they were kept far away from the talks. “They have locked down Rome,” said Re. “But even if they were here, they wouldn’t listen to us.”