IRAQ: Thousands of Italians gather to protest US military trains

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Att.Editors: The following item is from the Qatar News Agency (QNA)

PISA, Italy, Feb 26 2003 (IPS) - Thousands of demonstrators were gathering in Pisa today to protest against military convoys transporting United States weaponry across Italy.

The US military is shifting arms and munitions from bases in northern Italy to its main installation, Camp Darby in Tuscany, in preparation for war on Iraq.

The protesters, a loose collection of anti-globalization activists, Catholics and left-wing militants, have been occupying railway tracks, forcing long delays in the delivery of armaments by what they call “The trains of death”.

Thousands of police officers have been deployed to escort the convoys while the US is considering finding alternative routes to deliver its weaponry to Turkey. The Interior Ministry has warned of the danger of the protests degenerating into violence.

Trade unions have called on railway drivers to boycott the convoys and on dock workers to refuse to handle military material.

“There will be thousands of us today,” said Luca Casarini, one of Italy’s most prominent anti-globalization activists. “We will occupy railway tracks and we will use our bodies to block the trains of death,” Casarini told ‘La Repubblica’ daily.

The government of Silvio Berlusconi has openly sided with the United States and has authorized the use of its infrastructures for the transportation of military equipment.

Recent opinion polls have estimated the number of Italians who oppose a war in Iraq at over 70 percent.

Several left-wing politicians have sided with protesters while many Catholics have rallied behind the words of Pope John Paul II, who has defined war as “a defeat for humanity” and has invited the faithful to fast and pray for peace.