Hundreds of hooded demonstrators have fought with police in Rome in one of the biggest of a day of global protests against bankers, politicians and businessmen.
Protestors torched cars and smashed bank windows. The BBC reports that at least 70 people were injured, three of them seriously, as police fought back with tear gas, water cannon and batons.
The clashes with hard-core demonstrators continued hours after tens of thousands of people in the Italian capital had turned out to demonstrate peacefully.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has promised to punish rioters, calling the violence a worrying signal.
Protests against what's perceived as corporate greed have been taking place around the world inspired by weeks of anti-Wall Street demonstrations in the United States.
Police in New York on Sunday arrested about 70 people, as protesters moved to Times Square.
The march's organisers said about 5000 people took part.
There were also protests in a number of other US cities, including 5000 peopel who rallied outside City Hall in Los Angeles and 2000 who marched in Pittsburgh.
Galvanized by the Occupy Wall Street movement, the protests began in New Zealand, touched parts of Asia, spread to Europe, and ultimately resumed at their starting point in New York.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Berlin, Madrid and Athens. In Frankfurt, about 5000 people demonstrated outside the European Central Bank.
