Hundreds of steelworkers protest in Italian city

Hundreds of steelworkers protested outside a factory in the port city of Genoa on Monday in what they billed as Italy's first industrial protest since the country locked down due to the coronavirus in early March. As restrictions eased significantly, workers gathered to protest ArcerlorMittal's decision to put another 1,000 workers at plants throughout the country on short-term unemployment schemes at a fraction of usual pay. The company has already put more than 3,000 workers in its beleaguered Taranto plant in southern Italy on temporary unemployment.

Many Italian steelmakers stopped producing during the lockdown, although ArcelorMittal's plant in Taranto — Italy's largest — remained open throughout. (AP) RS RS