Workers for soon-to-be-defunct Alitalia block highway exit

ROME (AP) — Hundreds of Alitalia workers are blocking a highway exit outside Rome’s main airport to demonstrate their anger that most of the airline’s staff will soon lose their jobs. As of Oct. 1, the financially-ailing Alitalia won’t exist anymore. The new company being formed, called ITA, says it will only keep some 2,800 of 10,000 of Alitalia’s employees. On Friday, Alitalia employees hit back, forcing the cancellation of many flights. Along the roadway and near the highway exit for Leonardo da Vinci  Airport, some strikers sat down, while others skirmished with police in riot gear. The protest caused kilometers-long traffic tie-ups.