Hooded youths dressed in the style of the so-called Black Bloc anti-globalisation protestors infiltrated a student rally in Milan Thursday against the Expo 2015 world trade fair opening in the city.
The hooded protesters carried fire extinguishers filled up with paint and sprayed #1m no expo# outside the entrance gate to the trade fair.
Two managed to scale Milan's Expo Gate structure and hang from it a banner reading: "Great event equals great joke. No Expo: another world is possible."
The hooded protesters threw smoke bombs, eggs and a firecracker at the Turkish consulate, tried to cover the camera lenses of photographers filming their antics and scuffled with journalists.
The far-left protesters also daubed graffiti on the windows of banks and Italian energy company Enel, a sponsor of Expo.
Around 20 of the far-left protesters smashed the windows of a branch of the Manpower employment agency tasked with hiring thousands of temporary workers at Expo, which runs from 1 May to 31 October.
When police arrived, the hooded protesters tried to mingle with the marchers, prompting organisers to order them leave the rally.
Anti-terror police carried out a series of raids in recent days in Milan targeting people suspected of planning violent protests against Expo, and arrested a German suspect.
Authorities have ratcheted up security for the trade fair, including a no-fly zone above it for civilian aircraft.
More than 140 countries are taking part in the fair, which covers 1.1 million square metres of exhibition area and is expected to attract up to 25 million people.
