No village or town in the country was without some kind of anti-war protest on Day X as people came out to oppose the war against Iraq. There were 85 major demonstrations in 36 provinces. There were strikes, marches, sit-ins. Traffic was stopped and railway lines were blocked as workers students and others came onto the streets.

Iraq

"The parallel war" of huge protests

"The Parallel War", is what Curzio Maltese, writing in La Repubblica, called the anti-war protests all over the world, "And the one Bush may not win" he added.

There was a massive response to the Cgil-Cisl-Uil (trade union) call to down tools in a 2-hour strike. Some of the ’unions of the base’ organised longer stoppages.

The biggest anti-war demonstration yesterday was in Milan where 150,000 marched to Piazza del Duomo. But also there was Rome (100,000), Bologna (90,000), Firenze (80,000), Genova (40,000), Torino (25,000), Napoli (20,000) and many others where thousands marched against war.

As Epifani, the Secretary of Cgil, the largest trade union federation, said: "Italy has rebelled against Bush’s war adventure".

L’Ulivo (the Olive Tree centre-left coalition) has organised a protest for 3 o’clock tomorrow, 21 March, in the Piazza del Popolo in Rome. There will also be more big demonstrations at the US bases.

The schools have been occupied since yesterday and there will be a school strike on Monday against the Moratti (education ’reform’) laws.

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