International news round-up

Italy’s students occupy and march

City centres across Italy were brought to a halt on Saturday of last week as students and workers marched against the austerity measures implemented by Mario Monti’s government.

In Rome school students led the marches and held banners calling for education funding. Students across Italy have occupied their schools, locking the gates and camping inside.

“This government doesn’t represent us,” said student protester Tommaso Bernardi. Teachers have struck against cuts which are starving schools of resources.

Outrage at fatal Bangladesh fire

Over 100 workers were killed when a fire swept through a garment factory in Bangladesh last Sunday. A local fire chief has said that there would have been far fewer casualties if proper safety procedures had been followed.

When workers ran to the fire exit they found it locked from the outside. Fire extinguishers weren’t working and managers told workers to ignore a fire alarm. Some 15,000 workers protested on Monday of this week and surrounded a police van.

Irish take to the streets over cuts

Some 20,000 people from across Ireland marched through Dublin last Saturday to tell the government, “Austerity stops here.” The protest was called by Dublin Council of Trade Unions.

United Left MP Richard Boyd Barrett said, “This madness has to stop. We must cease immediately the insane policy of prioritising the interests of banks and markets over the needs of ordinary citizens.”