Protesters clash with police near Colosseum as Italy stages nationwide strike

Tensions escalated during protests across Italy on Friday, with clashes breaking out between demonstrators and police.

Near the Colosseum in Rome, a small group broke away from the main march, erected barricades, tore down road signs and set rubbish bins on fire. Protesters also hurled bottles at police officers, while eight demonstrators were detained.

Authorities closed Piazza Montecitorio and Piazza Colonna, near Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office, as a precaution, deploying riot police to secure the area.

The nationwide demonstrations were organised by grassroots union USB against the rising cost of living and rearmament in Europe.

The protest, under the slogan "Shut everything down", involves workers and students, as well as pensioners, housing rights activists and port workers, who are also striking in around 20 countries against the transport of weapons.

Italian authorities are closely monitoring security, after the recent violence in Milan. The Interior Ministry has been put on alert over the possible infiltration of violent groups into the various marches, amid fears of unrest that could continue throughout the weekend, described as "problematic" by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi.

"There are alarms, because there is this very insidious way of activating the squares, but nothing different from what we have dealt with so far", Piantedosi said on Thursday.

In this context, the police plan to step up checks and potentially carry out preventive detentions allowed under the latest security decree. As for transport, reports indicate that services are operating only partially as normal.