Italian truckers block roads to protest against soaring diesel prices

Retailers in Italy are warning of food shortages after a protest broke out among truck drivers in the country, this over the cost of living crisis as well as high fuel prices. The protest began in southern Italy last week and continues following violent demonstrations in northern Italian cities over the weekend, including in Milan by students and other groups. We can now go across to Seema Gupta standing by in Rome. Seema, good afternoon. truckers protesting in the country. That's clearly having an impact while students in the country also plan on taking to the streets on Saturday once again. Yes, exactly. I mean, you've got the government trying to deal with protests in the South as well as in the North. Now, in the South, those truckers are essentially blocking roads, blocking highways because they just want to express the fact that they're soaring fuel prices and they are having to deal with that in their industry and they need more help. And it's also extended to other groups. You've got now fishing representatives, those who are in the fishing industry, protesting at various ports in the country, again, about soaring fuel prices. Now, the Prime Minister called for a cabinet meeting this morning, which has just ended, and they've announced that there is a decree allowing for more fuel aid for these sectors. those in agriculture, fishing, as well as the truck drivers. Essentially, they're saying that they're trying to translate the commitments that have been made to actual concrete measures, that these people will have the money they need in order to help them as they deal with rising prices. Just to give you an idea, the price of diesel, for instance, has increased by a third since the start of the war in Iran. And while the government has put in place certain measures to help people, eventually it catches up and they can't constantly do that. And so these groups are suffering. The government, though, wants to make it clear that there's a clear line between legitimate grievances and illegal behaviour, because, of course, blocking the roads is having a knock-on effect on supply chains. So you've got the situation of supermarket shelves in the south being empty. The fruit and vegetables are rotting. They're not getting to be sold to the people who need it. Milk going bad. And so the police has even stepped in place to identify those who are involved in these protests, issuing fines and even providing escorts for the trucks. Now, the mayors in Naples and Bari have actually issued a statement. These are two southern cities saying that they risk paralysis in their cities and they want the government to intervene. So let's see if this current decree is going to go far enough. For now, we know that the truck drivers, at least in Calabria and Sicily, two southern regions, have agreed to stop their protests. But those in Naples and Campania, the Campania region, seem to be continuing. So while that's happening in the south, you've got the students in the north that say they want to continue their protests. We saw some violent demonstrations over the weekend. There is concern about that. But the students are saying, well, you know, we're also protesting the cost of living, the fact that rents are unaffordable, they're insecure jobs, not enough access to health care and poor wages. And they want to see, as they put it, this thieving government doing something more to deal with it. So the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni having to deal with a lot on both ends, but wanting to come down hard on protesters who get violent, as well as truck drivers who are illegally blocking those highways and roads. Seema, we have Giorgia Meloni's government and the Prime Minister who's grappling with these multiple crises in different parts of the country, amongst different groups in the country, as she herself marks a milestone, four years in office. Absolutely. October 22nd, four years ago, is when she was sworn in as new prime minister. And they've celebrated this as being quite a significant thing because, of course, her government, they're stressing their stability. It's the longest serving government since World War Two. Italy, of course, famous for the fact of changing revolving door prime ministers and government, 68 governments in 80 years. So this day, this anniversary, the government itself stressing the fact, as far as they're concerned, yes, they've put 1.4 million jobs on the market. They've cut the number of boat landings of migrants and they've put in place tax cuts. But critics are saying, well, they're not really dealing with the structural issues facing Italy, like high debt and low wages. And in the meantime, when it comes to law and order issues, which her government has often stressed, all that violence in Milan over the weekend has not helped, which is why the government has clamped down very hard and deployed some 500 army troops to help the police deal with some of the surveillance and monitoring of the situation there. We'll, of course, have to see what happens with protests scheduled on Saturday.