Rome court convicts far-right activists for storming union offices to oppose COVID vaccine passes

A court in Rome convicted the leader of a far-right party and six other far-right activists Wednesday for rampaging through the headquarters of Italy’s most powerful labor confederation during an October 2021 protest against COVID-19 certification requirements for workplaces. Roberto Fiore, leader of the Forza Nuova, or New Force, party, was found guilty of resisting public officials, instigation to delinquency and an aggravated charge of causing devastation. An Associated Press report at the time said that 10,000 opponents of a government decree requiring vaccine certificates to return to work turned out in Rome’s vast Piazza del Popolo for a demonstration that degenerated into alarming violence.