Rome - Hundreds of Italian cattle farmers and butchers, protesting against the EU cattle cull, yesterday hurled eggs and oranges at the parliament buildings in Rome.
"Farmers are honest, consumers are being misled, journalists are liars," one banner read. The protesters are opposed to a government decision to destroy entire herds in which one case of BSE is detected.
Beef consumption has slumped by 70 per cent, while Italy has had one confirmed native case of BSE, detected this month in a six-year-old cow.