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Italian students protest labour reforms

The Local Italy
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Italian students protest labour reforms
The campaign's slogan is "La Grande Bellezza siamo noi" (we are the great beauty). Photo: Unione degli universitari

Thousands of student are taking to the streets across Italy on Friday to protest against the government's labour and education reforms.

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Protests are taking place across 60 cities and towns across the country as students demand "better schools, jobs and a different country", which they believe premier Matteo Renzi's so-called Jobs Act, which passed a vote of confidence on Wednesday, will fail to deliver.

The campaign's slogan is "La Grande Bellezza siamo noi" (we are the great beauty).

"We are the beauty of this country and we can no longer live in a situation of insecurity and have our rights deprived," the Unione degli Studenti Universitari (Union for university students) said in a statement.

The union argues that Renzi's controversial labour reforms, which will make it easier for companies to hire and fire, will not guarantee security or jobs for Italy's young people.

"In reality, the Jobs Act will only increase the precariousness without guaranteeing protection to those entering the labour market...the reforms were carried out without listening to young people," Gianluca Scuccimarra, the union's National Coordinator said in a statement.

Alberto Irone, a spokesperson for Rete degli Studenti Medi (network for high school students), called on Renzi to give "real answers" to a generation that "lives the nightmare of insecurity and no future".

"The social condition of young people shouldn't just be a media slogan for the premier," he said in a statement.

"The Great Beauty of this country are hungry for change and rights."

Youth unemployment in Italy hit a record high of 44.2 percent in August.

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