Protests greet debut of Italy's workplace COVID pass rule

ROME (AP) — Protests erupted in Italy as one of the most stringent anti-coronavirus measures in Europe went into effect Friday, requiring all workers, from magistrates to maids, to show a health pass to get into their place of employment.

Police were out in force, schools planned to end classes early and embassies issued warnings of possible violence amid concerns that the anti-vaccination demonstrations could turn violent, as they did in Rome last weekend.

The so-called “Green Pass” shows proof of vaccination, a recent negative test or of having recovered from COVID-19 in the past six months. Italy already required them to access all sorts of indoor environments, including restaurants, museums, theaters, and long-distance trains.

But the addition of the workplace requirement has sparked heated debate and opposition in a country that was a coronavirus epicenter early in the pandemic and where vaccination rates are among the highest in Europe.

“Today they are stepping on our Constitution," said an anti-vaccine protester, Loris Mazzarato. “I say NO to this discrimination.”

He was among the hundreds of demonstrators in Trieste, where protests by port workers refusing to show a Green Pass to get to work threatened to affect commercial activities, though early reports suggested the ports were operational. Protesters shouted “Liberta” (Freedom) in a largely peaceful demonstration in Florence.

Implementation of the new requirement varies: Electronic scanners that can read cellphone QR codes with the Green Pass were set up at bigger places of employment, such as the office of Italian Premier Mario Draghi and the headquarters of state railway company Trenitalia.

But at smaller places of work, from restaurants to tennis clubs, employers and managers had to download an app that...