It's a protest by police unions for the government's continuous cutbacks on all funds concerning law enforcement. There isn't enough money to buy gas or pay heating bills. Patrol cars are obsolete and often inoperative (can't afford to repair them).

The special cop force (i catturandi) that hunts down mafia bosses have just sued the government for not having paid them the extra costs for capturing Provenzano back in 2006- costs that were volunteered by cops out of their miserable paycheck.

The government then takes credit for cracking down on organized crime when to the contrary it does everything possible to aid and abet organized crime.