Anti-govt protesters dump manure at La Scala premiere

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 7 - Anticapitalist, anarchist and pro-Palestinian protesters from so-called 'social centre' squats dumped manure outside La Scala ahead of Saturday night's annual premiere at the iconic Milanese opera house, one of the high points of Italy's social calendar.
    After shovelling the dung onto the red carpet amid photos of government ministers and what they called "war criminal" Benjamin Netanyahu, the protesters staged a rally under the slogan "popular and anti-military".
    Life Senator and Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre, deputising for President Sergio Mattarella who is at the reopening of Notre-Dame in Paris, was set to issue a plea for world peace from the royal box, flanked by Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa, Italy's second highest pubic figure.
    Conductor Riccardo Chailly was set to lead the orchestra in Verdi's 'religious' work La Forza del Destino, whose message was reframed against all wars and the patriarchy.
    High jump star Gianmarco Tamberi and actor Pierfrancesco Favino were among the celebrities rumoured to be sporting Armani Saturday night.
    The high-society event, which takes place on the saint's day of Milan's patron St Ambrose, is usually met with protests against the rich.
    It is the highlight of the Milanese social season and a showcase for Italy's great, good, and glitterati. (ANSA).