Italian police search for ringleaders after bomb planted, cars set ablaze and shops looted by violent breakaway group

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

Italian police have begun viewing dozens of hours of video in an effort to identify the ringleaders of a vicious riot in Rome that left about 100 people injured, caused €2m (£1.75m) of damage and had peaceful anti-capitalist demonstrators seething at the hijacking of their protest by a violent minority.

The disturbances in the Italian capital on Saturday stood out against a background of otherwise non-violent rallies across Europe.

The biggest turnout was reported in Portugal, where more than 20,000 people marched in Lisbon and a similar number in Oporto.

In Rome, tens of thousands gathered for a march inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement. But within minutes of setting off, hooded and masked demonstrators had broken away to cause mayhem.

Traffic signs were uprooted for use as weapons. Cars were set ablaze. One group looted a supermarket. Another broke into a church, carried out a crucifix and a statue of the Madonna and smashed both in the street outside.

A rudimentary bomb was planted and a member of a radical leftwing party lost three fingers when it went off as he tried to move it away from the route of the march.

There were several clashes between the rioters and demonstrators who wanted the protest to remain peaceful.

It was not until a relatively late stage that the police intervened, firing teargas and training water canon on the rioters, who responded by hurling paving stones, bottles and firecrackers.

The interior minister, Roberto Maroni, said that "only thanks to balanced management of public order did we escape having a death".

It was the second time in less than a year that Rome had seen violent clashes that left columns of thick black smoke towering over the city.

The earlier riot took place in December and, like Saturday's disturbances, came after Silvio Berlusconi and his rightwing government survived a confidence vote in parliament.

The head of the Roman shopkeepers' association, Giuseppe Roscioli, said the destruction had cost his members almost €1m.

The mayor, Gianni Alemanno, said the council and other local authority bodies would also need to spend €1m to repair damage done to public areas in the city.

"Twenty cubic metres of paving stones that had been ripped up for use as missiles have been found," he said.

The mayor claimed that "the violent demonstrators came from abroad. They cannot be either Romans or Italians".

But all 20 of those arrested were Italians, from cities as far apart as Varese in the north and Syracuse on Sicily.

Peaceful demonstrations were held in Athens, Dublin, Madrid, Zurich, and in several French and German cities including Paris and Berlin.

Meanwhile New York city awoke from another dramatic day of protests after largely peaceful demonstrations in Times Square and Washington Square were punctuated by sporadic clashes with police.

As the Occupy Wall Street protests enter their fifth week, they continue to be troubled by what organisers insist are heavy-handed tactics by the New York police.

On Saturday, more than 70 arrests were made, mainly at two points of confrontation.

Earlier in the day, 24 people were arrested outside Citibank near Washington Square.

Organisers said they had been trying to close their personal accounts with the bank in a protest about government bailouts of corporate interests, but then found themselves locked into the bank by police and arrested.

Later, when a huge crowd assembled in Times Square, the neon heart of tourist America, the demonstrators were split up and penned in by police, some on horseback or riding motorcycles.

As 42 people were taken away in plastic handcuffs, protesters chanted "We are the 99%", "Who are you protecting?" and "N-Y-P-D, you belong with me!"

The march had been billed by organisers as an opportunity to "take Times Square".