Italy's revolting students

Massive "NO" to the Gelmini reforms

D-Day for the education system in Italy. The reform packet being proposed by Education minister Maria Stella Gelmini goes before the lower house of parliament today and the entire country is braced for the culmination of demonstrations being held by students to protest the measures.

Education minister Gelmini - "Blessed Ignorance"

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Italy's revolting students

D-Day for the education system in Italy. The reform packet being proposed by Education minister Maria Stella Gelmini goes before the lower house of parliament today and the entire country is braced for the culmination of demonstrations being held by students to protest the measures.

The centre of Rome around the parliament buildings is completely blocked off by massed police and carabinieri in riot gear as the student march makes its way towards Piazza Montecitorio from the Sapienza University. But there are also several other marches in progress.

Many other Italian cities are witnessing mass student action, too. In Palermo, school and university students have announced a "Block Everything Day", with marches and sit-ins designed to bring the city to a halt. In Turin, the students are marching from the university, together with junior high school students, while other students are picketing the Polytechnic.

Following another demonstration yesterday evening when they blocked roads and egged the offices of the employers' federation, students in Genoa are again on the move today. The earthquake-struck town of L'Aquila has also been the scene of massive protests by students. Three faculties are currently occupied and the protests continue today. Hundreds of students are marching in Milan in 8 different demos, with others blocking critical access points to the town centre and occupying the main train station. Yesterday the faculty of political sciences was occupied. The faculty of literature and philosophy at Naples university was occupied yesterday and students there are also marching this morning. Other protests are under way in Ancona, Brescia (where police have attacked the demos), Bari, Siena, Cosenza, Pisa and Venice. In most of these cities, students have been occupying faculties and making roof-top demonstrations over the past few days.

For more information on the reforms and what it will mean for universities, see the FdCA statement released yesterday: