CNN is reporting that a government building is on fire in Rome after "many thousands" of protesters assembled at the Porta Giovanni. (This is the square that directly abuts the Lateran basilica.) The Italian media is blaming "anarchists."

From the link:

Thousands of people across the world railed against corporate power, grinding poverty, and government cuts Saturday as the Occupy Wall Street movement spread to the streets of Europe, Asia and Australia -- and took a particularly violent turn in Rome. Firefighters battled a blaze at an Interior Ministry building near Porta San Giovanni in Rome, the main gathering site of the Italian protesters taking part in the Occupy movement Saturday, said eyewitnesses who reported seeing a Molotov cocktail thrown near the building. Police said hundreds of anarchists confronting peaceful protesters in Rome where demonstrators had gathered as part of the global Occupy movement. ... Tens of thousands demonstrated in German cities, witnesses said. Peaceful protests with a festive atmosphere blended with a mood of anger toward big business, where demonstrators carried signs saying "Goldman Sucks," "Eat Cash," "People should not be afraid of their government," and "The government should be afraid of their people." ... One protester said in Belleville, France, referring to the country's leaders, said government isn't listening to the people and dialogue with them is impossible.



There is a lot of anger out there -- and dispair. It's directionless because our leadership is directionless. The neo-liberal economic policies of the West haven't built a laissez-faire paradise for its citizens, but rather cast them adrift into a sea of insecurity.

Where do we go now?

It's easy to see villains everywhere -- banks, corporations, politicians -- because the villains aren't just people or institutions but an entire philosophy that came to pervade every aspect of public life in the West, whether it was business or government:

Let Democracy step aside and Markets will take care of the people.

Well it didn't work.

And everyone is pissed.