On Friday, protests and clashes erupted across Naples following suggestions of a second multi-week lockdown coming into effect in the coming days following a sharp rise in new COVID-19 infections.
Protestors hurled smoke bombs and firecrackers at police trying to break up crowds.
Police responded with tear gas in an attempt at breaking up the violent crowds, which were already defying a night-time curfew imposed late on Friday.
Over recent weeks, Italy has seen a sharp rise in new COVID-19 infections, suggesting that a second COVID-19 wave is now sweeping across Europe.
In total, Italy has reported 484,869 COVID-19 infections and 37,059 coronavirus related fatalities.
The United States is currently leading global COVID-19 cases with over 8.7 million infections and 229,284 fatalities, although India follows closely behind with 7.8 million cases and 117,992 deaths. As for the third-highest case toll and death toll, Brazil follows with 5.3 million cases and 156,528 deaths, Russia with 1.4 million cases and 25,525 deaths, and Spain with 1 million infections and 34,752 deaths.
The novel coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan, Hubei, China, on Dec. 31, 2019, and has infected more than 42 million individuals worldwide, resulting in over 1.3 million fatalities across 188 countries and territories.
The Panthera Post 