Vicenza, July 4th : Latest News

5 / 7 / 2009

Clashes at protest vs US base expansion in Italy

By ARIEL DAVID


ROME (AP) — Protesters clashed with police at a demonstration Saturday against the planned expansion of an airport and U.S. military base in the northern city of Vicenza.

Demonstrators wearing helmets and carrying plastic shields threw stones and other objects at officers guarding a bridge on the route of the protest. Police fired tear gas canisters and clubbed some demonstrators, but no injuries were immediately reported.

Several thousand protesters, many from other Italian cities, converged on Vicenza to march against the expansion of the Dal Molin airport. They beat drums and carried rainbow peace flags, caricatures of President Barack Obama and banners that read "No Dal Molin."

The plan would allow the transfer of four U.S. battalions from Germany, raising the number of active duty personnel in Vicenza to 5,000 from about 2,900 already stationed at the Ederle base on the other side of town.

The move is part of the U.S. Army's plans to transform itself into a lighter, more mobile force. Under the plans, elements of the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade, a rapid reaction unit now spread between Italy and Germany, would be united.

The staunchly pro-American conservative administration of Premier Silvio Berlusconi has pushed ahead with the expansion, which also was approved by his center-left predecessor, Romano Prodi, despite anger from his Communist and Greens allies.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by 2011.

Some residents, far left groups and environmentalists have been protesting the expansion for years, saying it would increase traffic; noise and air pollution; deplete local resources, including water and gas; and raise the risk of terrorist attacks.

Protests have been frequent in the city of 110,000, and Saturday's demonstration was staged to coincide with July 4, in what organizers said would mark an "Independence Day" from the U.S. base.

The march also was seen as a test of other protests that are planned against next week's Group of Eight summit in L'Aquila.

The government moved the meeting from the posh Sardinian island of La Maddalena to the central Italian city after it was hit by a devastating earthquake in April.

Berlusconi said the move sought to draw attention to the population's plight and limit the possibility of violence because protesters would not dare vandalize the stricken city. Last time Italy hosted the G-8 summit, in 2001, violent clashes left one protester dead and devastated the port city of Genoa.

The U.S. Embassy in Italy has issued a warning to Americans to exercise caution while traveling through Italy during the summit, particularly in areas like Rome and L'Aquila where several demonstrations are planned.

The Associated Press.

Six police hurt in clashes at Italian anti-US military base demo

VICENZA, Italy (AFP) — Six policemen were hurt in clashes late Saturday with demonstrators at a rally of more than 3,000 people against the 500-million-dollar enlargement of a US military base in Italy, police said.

Some 300 youths, wearing helmets and carrying plexiglass shields, pelted riot cops with rocks and bottles during the American Independence Day demo. The police replied with tear gas and baton charges, AFP photographers said.

The work at the base, a former airport in northern Vicenza -- which has a current troop capacity of 2,750 -- will enable 1,800 soldiers currently based in Germany to be stationed there.

Demonstrators who have regularly cut their way through barbed wire guarding the site cried "No arms here" and "We won't be a rear base for the killing of Afghan kids."

Local authorities have backed the extension, with around 1,200 jobs created, while successive governments led by centre-left Romano Prodi and current Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have each greenlighted the work.

A delegation from the organisers -- a coalition of Communists, Greens and far-left groups -- will travel to central L'Aquila on Sunday to protest at the scene of next week's G8 summit of world leaders including US President Barack Obama.

Anti-G8 demonstrators clash with police in Italy

By Ian Simpson

VICENZA, Italy (Reuters) - Anti-G8 demonstrators clashed briefly with Italian police on Saturday in the first big protest ahead of next week's summit of the world's richest nations.

Police in riot gear fired teargas at protesters to prevent them from crossing a bridge and moving closer to a contested U.S. military base in the northeastern city of Vicenza.

The demonstrators, some of them wearing motorcycle helmets and with their faces covered, threw bottles and lit fireworks as they were pushed back on the bridge.

Several thousand people, most of them marching peacefully, are attending the protest, launched against expansion plans that would make the U.S. base one of the biggest in Europe and more generally against the July 8-10 G8 summit which Italy chairs.

"We are sick of the powerful governing without consulting the people," said Martina Vultaggio, 29, one of the protest organisers.

The leaders of the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia, together with those of major emerging economies, will hold talks in the central city of L'Aquila focusing on the state of the world economy, financial regulation, climate change, trade and development.

Anti-capitalist protesters plan a series of demonstrations at different sites against the summit, starting with the one in Vicenza -- where locals oppose the doubling of the size of the U.S. base, home to 3,000 soldiers of the 173 Airborne Brigade.

The Italian government has approved construction of a new 6,000 square metre (64,600 sq ft) base on the site of the old Molin airport on the city's outskirts

Despite approval by Rome, Vicenza residents have rejected the base expansion in a referendum.

Opponents contend the base poses a threat to ground water, is dangerous for residents and for Vicenza's historic centre, a treasure of Renaissance architecture.

The protesters have vowed to march about 3.5 km to the construction site, which has been sealed off by local authorities, and plant flags with anti-base slogans. Around 1,000 police were deployed on Saturday along the route.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is keen to avoid a repeat of the violence that marred a 2001 G8 summit hosted by Italy in Genoa, when a protester was killed and scores of others were beaten up by police.

Summit organisers have said the choice of L'Aquila, which was badly damaged by an earthquake in April that killed nearly 300 people and left 60,000 homeless, should deter violent protests out of respect for the plight of local people.

Demonstrators plan to stage a candle-lit night march in the city on July 6 -- three months after the quake struck.