Italy’s Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) group on Friday continued a series of road-block protests in Italian cities. They are highlighting the need to combat the climate crisis.
Ultima Generazione stopped traffic on two major Rome highways in the rush-hour, causing considerable disruption for commuters in the morning.
The young ‘concerned citizens’ sat and lay down on the busy Magliana and Tangenziale Est roads in the capital with banners saying ‘No Oil, No Gas’. Traffic came to a standstill.
Police and firefighters eventually managed to clear the roads.
“We are sorry to cause inconvenience,” Ultima Generazione said via Twitter. “But it is the only way we have left to get heard”.
Hunger strikes ignored
Several Ultima Generazione members recently staged long hunger strikes in a bid to get Italy’s political parties to focus on the climate crisis. However, the media and politicians largely ignored their protests.
As a result, the group has reverted to staging road blocks. Whilst these anger the affected motorists, it does garner the attention they want for their cause. They have also been gluing themselves to artworks – without damaging the works themselves.
Ultima Generazione is demanding the immediate halt to the reopening of decommissioned coal plants and the scrapping of new gas-drilling projects. It also wants the government to increase the energy generated by renewables in Italy by at least 20GW each year.
Ultima Generazione is part of the A22 network of climate civil-disobedience groups active in several countries. Their foreign counterparts include Just Stop Oil in the UK, Stop Old Growth in Canada, Derniere Renovation in France and Declare Emergency in the United States.
During 2022, Italy has suffered the consequences of climate change with deadly storms and months of drought. Both caused massive problems for agriculture.
