ROME, June 4 (UPI) -- Tens of thousands of mostly peaceful protestors took to the streets of the Italian capital Friday to protest against the visit of President George W. Bush, whose stop in Italy started a three-day European tour to commemorate key anniversaries related to World War II.
Estimates for the size of the protest varied wildly from 25,000 quoted by government officials to more than 500,000 claimed by organizers. Whatever the size, it bogged down the center of Rome for hours Friday, calling attention to the continued opposition to the war in Iraq by most Italians despite strong support of it by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The visit was also criticized by members of the opposition center-left coalition, who said that it could give Berlusconi's allies an unexpected boost in June 12-13 elections for European parliament, which are expected to be a kind of referendum on Berlusconi's 3-year hold on the prime minister's post. Even though Bush is unpopular in Italy, pollsters say that the visit gives Berlusconi prestige and temporarily distracts Italians from the country's sagging economy.
Most of the protestors said that they were opposed the war in Iraq and Bush's visit to Rome, but remained appreciative of the country that liberated Rome from Nazi control 60 years ago to the day.
"I don't think there are many people in this crowd who hate all Americans or who do not understand the role that the United States has played in Italian history," said Roberta Biaggi, 29, who came to Rome from the nearby city of Viterbo to march against the war with a multi-colored peace flag in hand. "What we protest is the way the American government is acting now."
Adding to the recent anger over Italy's involvement in Iraq has been the hostage issue. Three Italian contract workers are being held by guerrillas in Iraq, and a fourth was killed by them.
The protests brought the city to a standstill for the afternoon. Stores along the protest route closed, and radio reports said that more than 60,000 cars that would normally circulate on Rome's streets on a weekday afternoon were diverted. An estimated 10,000 security personnel stood on street corners to keep the peace, while military helicopters flew overhead and several hundred plain-clothes police officers circulated among protesters to keep tabs on potential violence.
Plans for Bush to lay a ceremonial wreath on the tomb of Italy's unknown soldier were scrapped when it was determined that the monument's proximity to the protest route made the event impossible.
Thanks in part to a security force more than three times the size of the 3,000-member force Italy has stationed in Iraq, violence was relatively mild. A group of two dozen hooded protestors briefly clashed with police near the starting point of the march, and there were scattered reports of fist fights and a few groups that set fire to piles of garbage and shattered a handful of store windows.
Fears were that the violence could have been much worse. In the days leading up to Bush's visit, Berlusconi voiced concerns about the potential for violence, and the U.S. Embassy in Rome warned Americans in the city to stay clear of the march on fears that they could become targets for violence.
In 2002, 1.5 million marchers overturned cars and burned political leaders in effigy in dozens of Italian cities to protest against the war in October 2002. And a year before that, protests surrounding the Group of Eight summit in the Italian city of Genoa were marred by widespread violence that left one protestor dead.
"I think these protests lacked the intensity and numbers of previous protests because they were not about a specific event," said Giacomo Catalano, a sociologist with Roma Tre University. "Marchers didn't like President Bush being on Italian soil and they think that Italian troops in Iraq are a mistake, but they were not trying to prevent the war or marching to prevent changes in pension laws" -- a reference to two topics that have drawn much larger protests in recent years.
While in Rome, Bush also met with Berlusconi and Pope John Paul II. He will leave Saturday to France, where he will be on hand to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Normandy D-Day landings on Sunday.
