Interior Ministry Undersecretary Carlo Sibilia said Tuesday that the government clamping down on marches against the Green Pass COVID-19 health passport, some of which have turned violent while others have led to outbreaks of contagion, keeping them out of city centres.
"For weeks the so-called 'no pass' protests have been paralysing the centres of many cities every Saturday, creating inconvenience for citizens and shop-keepers, as well as creating crowds of unvaccinated people," Sibilia said.
"In order to address this inconvenience, the interior ministry has approved a new 'clampdown' and set new rules: only sit-ins are allowed and outside the city centres".
Carlo Sangalli, the president of retailers association Confcommercio , said Tuesday that these protests had caused a 30% loss in revenues for stores and were "unacceptable".
The Green Pass, which shows that a person is vaccinated for COVID-19, has recovered from it in the last six months or tested negative in the last few days, became obligatory to access places of work in Italy last month.
"Given the (recent) rise in contagion, checks on the Green Pass will be intensified," Sibilia said.
"The prevention measures that have been adopted must be maintained and people must be given incentives to get vaccinated".
Friuli Venezia Giulia Deputy Governor Riccardo Riccardi, meanwhile, said that an outbreak of cases linked to recent 'no pass' protests in Trieste had passed the 200-cases mark.
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