Italian police clashed with
housing rights protesters in Rome and Milan on Thursday during
eviction attempts on squatted property.
Some protesters supporting housing rights group Action's
occupation of a building in Rome's Viale Ostiense resisted an
eviction by police, who responded with water cannons.
Describing a "serious housing emergency" affecting
thousands of families, Action said in a statement that it was
one of the only organisations pushing for funds to help deal
with the situation in the Lazio region.
In Milan, police scuffled with protesters opposing the
eviction of an Egyptian couple and their young child from the
public property apartment they were squatting in.
Police were called in after members of the Cantiere social
centre tried to block council housing workers from entering the
building. They reached an agreement with the protesters after
some moments of tension and the eviction went ahead.
The Egyptian family were offered alternative housing but
they refused, according to ANSA sources close to the situation.
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