European Awakeing: Police clash with anti-austerity protesters in Italy

Italian police have clashed with angry anti-austerity protesters in the southern city of Naples, Press TV reports.

Clashes erupted on Friday when a group of union members and students, who were outraged by the government’s taxation policies, gathered outside a tax office.

Police charged the protesters with batons as they threw bottles and eggs at the officers.

Meanwhile, a 24-hour transportation strike in the capital Rome against the government’s economic reforms caused disruption and chaos for millions of commuters on Friday.

The transport workers opposed the government’s economic reforms that would overhaul labor laws and increase the retirement age by two years.

The strikers argue that the government’s tough measures are affecting the lives of millions of poor and jobless Italians.

Italy’s labor unions have staged many demonstrations and strikes to protest Prime Minister Mario Monti’s economic reform plan.

The plan will see the retirement age raised and younger workers collecting smaller pensions than their parents.

Monti’s plan is part of a multi-billion-dollar austerity package passed in January to save the country from bankruptcy. The three-year austerity and growth package includes budget cuts, pension reforms as well as tax hikes worth 30 billion euros (about USD51.7 billion).

Starting from this year, the retirement age for women will be increased to 62 from 60. In addition, men will have to work 42 years, up from the previous 40, to receive a full pension.

Value-added tax will be raised to 23 percent in the second quarter of 2012.

Rome has been pressured to implement economic reforms and budget cuts to reassure investors, who are concerned about the country’s huge debt ratio, which in the eurozone is second only to Greece.

Analysts say that an Italian default would be disastrous for Europe.

Italy, one of the biggest eurozone economies, fell into recession after its economy contracted by 0.2 percent in the third quarter and by 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The worsening debt crisis has forced EU governments to adopt harsh austerity measures and tough economic reforms, triggering incidents of social unrest and massive protests in many European countries.