Police Stand Aside as Anarchists Raid Italian Supermarkets

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Police Stand Aside as Anarchists Raid Italian Supermarkets

When 300 “shoppers” poured into a busy Rome supermarket andloaded their trolleys with fine wine and food, it was not becausethere were any special offers.

Instead the crowd, led by anarchist protesters who swiggedchampagne as they swept down the aisles, demanded a 70 per cent”discount” on everything they wanted.

They ignored the manager’s refusal and police, who feared ariot, stood by as the protesters wheeled trolleys laden with goodspast the tills and on to the street, to distribute their contents to anyone who would take them.

The raid on the giant Panorama supermarket, on the easternoutskirts of Rome, was the most spectacular of 40 similar swoopson Italian stores in recent weeks by mobs claiming they were”reappropriating” the goods. There is considerable sympathy for theprotesters among Italians who are fed up with high unemploymentand economic austerity.

One pensioner who witnessed the Panorama raid, complainedthat after paying his rent he only had 250 (173) a month tolive on. “There’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing,” he said.”Bravo,” said a woman. “I can only go shopping once a month, andwhen the money runs out I have to tighten my belt.

“Nor are supermarkets the only target. Last week anarchists extracted autoreduzioni, or “self-imposed discounts”, of 60 per centfrom bookshops in Bologna and Florence.