Rome counts cost of worst street violence in years

Clashes between police and anti-capitalist protesters in Rome's worst violence in years caused damage of one million euros (ê1.4 million) to public property, the city's mayor said Sunday.

"There was a million in damages to public property and you have to factor in damage to private property too," Gianni Alemanno said, as he visited the area around St John Lateran square devastated by the violence on Saturday.

"We have to act with appropriate toughness against these animals," he said.

He said city hall would constitute itself as a plaintiff in any legal action against the 12 protesters already arrested and indicated there could be further arrests once police had studied video footage from the protests.

He also said he would seek state aid for compensating private citizens.

Protesters torched several cars, smashed in the windows of banks and shops and set light to a military depot building in the city centre.

Seventy people were injured, including three in a serious condition.

Interviewed by ANSA news agency in hospital, a police officer who fled from his van shortly before it was set on fire at the height of Saturday's clashes said he had never seen violence on this scale.

"I've done protests but I've never seen anything like this. Luckily I had my helmet on, otherwise I'd be dead," said the officer, who was not named.

"I couldn't move forward or back. They broke my side mirror and managed to open one of the doors. Then I don't remember anything. I ran away," he said.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni condemned the "unprecedented violence" and thanked law enforcement for ensuring there were no fatalities.

"There was a real risk of this because the violent protesters were using the march as a shield," Maroni said, adding: "I want the authors of this violence, who are real dyed-in-the-wool criminals, to pay as an example to others."

There were similar but smaller-scale clashes in Rome in which 22 people were injured and 41 arrested on December 14 after scandal-tainted Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi narrowly survived a confidence vote in parliament.

The worst clashes in Rome before that were the violent and sometimes deadly confrontations between political militants and security forces during a period known as the "Years of Lead" in the 1970s and 1980s.