On our first day in Rome we happened on an "occupy" protest in front of the Vatican, and things got a bit intense near the end. At one point, a plain-clothes police officer slapped my camera out of my face and shoved me into the crowd of protesters. I managed to get a shot just a moment before he struck:
This guy climbed the Christmas tree in the middle of the plaza.
He was subsequently arrested.
Since it's the Vatican, they had a Pope blessing all the protesters. That's a tarot card book he has in his hand.
So the police officer at the top of this page threw me into a crowd of 30 protesters, all of whom had, at that point, been protesting peacefully. Later, several protesters jumped barriers in front of the Christmas tree in order to help their colleague in the tree who was facing down half a dozen police officers as he made his descent. These protesters were quickly arrested, and it could certainly be said that they were trespassing.
However, I was simply taking photos of the protesters and the police reaction. The police officer who slapped the camera from my face and then shoved me was, in my opinion, overreacting, especially since he did not identify himself as a police officer beforehand, and since I was only taking pictures outside of the demonstration.
The number of plain-clothed officers responding to this protest certainly relates to a recent interview I did with an Italian activist. I'll have that interview up in the near future.
We just happened upon this demonstration; it occurred about 20 minutes after we arrived to see the Vatican. Interestingly, most all the protesters were chanting in Spanish, so I wonder if they travelled from Spain for this particular movement. I couldn't find anything online about it.
The protest started innocently enough, with around 30 protesters chanting and setting down tents in front of the Vatican. However, when they started to move their tents to a different part of the plaza, Italian police -- many of them in civilian clothing-- started pushing the protesters.
However, I was simply taking photos of the protesters and the police reaction. The police officer who slapped the camera from my face and then shoved me was, in my opinion, overreacting, especially since he did not identify himself as a police officer beforehand, and since I was only taking pictures outside of the demonstration.
The number of plain-clothed officers responding to this protest certainly relates to a recent interview I did with an Italian activist. I'll have that interview up in the near future.
We just happened upon this demonstration; it occurred about 20 minutes after we arrived to see the Vatican. Interestingly, most all the protesters were chanting in Spanish, so I wonder if they travelled from Spain for this particular movement. I couldn't find anything online about it.
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