Protests erupt as Italians required to show Covid pass to enter workplace

Employees have their certification checked as Italy’s new Green Pass comes into effect. Picture: Andrew Medichini/AP

Protests have erupted in Italy as one of the most stringent anti-coronavirus measures in Europe went into effect, requiring all workers to show a health pass to get into their place of employment.

Police were out in force, schools closed early and embassies issued warnings of possible violence amid concerns that anti-vaccination demonstrations could turn violent, as they did in Rome over the weekend.

Protests by port workers in Genoa and Trieste threatened to affect commercial activities but early reports suggested the ports were operational.

Demonstrators and police clashed during the protest in Rome (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)

Protesters shouted “Liberta” (Freedom) in a largely peaceful demonstration in Florence.

The so-called Green Pass shows proof of vaccination, a recent negative test or of having recovered from Covid-19 in the past six months.

Italy has required it to access all sorts of indoor activities for weeks, including dining, visiting museums and theatres, and on long-distance trains.

Introduction of the Green Pass has been controversial (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

But the addition of the workplace requirement has sparked heated debate and opposition in the former epicentre of the outbreak, where vaccination rates are among the highest in Europe and where even the latest Delta variant-fuelled resurgence has been kept largely under control.

Not even the Vatican was spared. Three Swiss Guards quit and another three were suspended after they refused to get vaccinated before the Vatican’s Green Pass requirement went into effect.