BREAKING: EU puts on hold Ukraine integration deal! Anti-Austerity Riots come to Italy

Protesters clashed with police at anti-austerity demonstrations in Rome, Turin and Venice on Saturday, as part of a wave of social action led by Italy’s Forconi (Pitchforks) movement of farmers and truck drivers.

Students threw paint bombs at the police in Turin in northern Italy, a once-mighty industrial hub that has been laid low by the economic crisis and has been at the epicentre of protests that began this week.

Far-right activists wearing Italian flag masks and white nooses around their necks also rallied outside the European Commission’s office in Rome and took down a European flag outside before being chased off by police.

In Venice, police fired tear gas to break up far-right and far-left protesters near the train station.

Two people were detained and around 10 police officers were lightly injured in the Venice protest, which forced the closure of a new bridge between two islands by award-winning architect Santiago Calatrava.

“The situation is very worrying because it is an expression of great social unease,” Economic Development Minister Flavio Zanonato said at the opening of an airplane components factory near Milan.

“We must hurry up and re-launch our country,” he said.

http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2013/12/15/protesters-clash-with-police-at-anti-austerity-demonstrations-in-rome-turin-and-venice.html

CLASHES IN MADRID AS DEMONSTRATORS RALLY AGAINST ANTI-PROTEST BILL

Watch Ruptly’s footage of the violent scenes on the streets of Madrid:

http://rt.com/news/madrid-anti-protest-law-264/

EU puts on hold Ukraine integration deal – EU enlargement chief

The European Union is freezing its work with the Ukrainian government on a controversial trade agreement, which the country decided to postpone last month triggering massive protests.

The EU believes that Ukraine’s position in the negotiations on the Association Agreement has “no grounds in reality”, tweeted EU enlargement chief Stefan Fuele following a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov.

http://rt.com/news/eu-ukraine-agreement-hold-276/

The European Union said on Sunday it was putting on hold work with Ukraine on a trade and cooperation agreement, saying the arguments being made by the Kiev government had “no grounds in reality”.

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_12_15/EU-holds-work-on-Association-agreement-with-Ukraine-4012/

Exclusive: McCain Flies to Ukraine as Protests Rage 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/13/exclusive-mccain-flies-to-ukraine-as-protests-rage.html

Ukraine’s capital girds for major demonstrations

https://twitter.com/pecuniagroup3

The EU Has Suspended Trade Talks With Ukraine

http://www.businessinsider.com/eu-ukraine-talks-2013-12#ixzz2nYIcEhkz

 

DB