MILAN, Italy

Railway workers in Italy went on strike on Friday to protest recent violent attacks on them.

The eight-hour strike, which started at 09:00 a.m. local time and will continue until 05:00 p.m., involved the entire country from North to South.

Many trains were canceled, both long-distance and local trains, causing inconvenience to commuters, travelers and tourists, especially in the major cities – Milan, Rome, Turin and Naples.

The unions are demanding security on trains following attacks on railway workers in the last months. The last episode occurred on Sept. 2 in Bergamo – 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Milan – when a conductor was punched by a passenger and was taken to a hospital.

"As a result of the escalation of assaults recorded in August … there has been no intervention. We didn’t register a greater impact on the legislature after the proposals on transport and the review of existing legislation put forward by the social partners," the unions said in a statement.