Peter Popham: Don't try and predict the Italian police
Rome Notebook: The genial mass of police raised shields and billy clubs and marched towards the protesters
Monday, 8 September 2008
Italy has an unnerving ability to switch in a flash from being a kind and obliging country to a nasty place capable of ruthless violence. The latest to find this out was a group of activists protesting about the plan to build a of a new American military base in the city of Vicenza.
As part of their effort to monitor whatever is going on behind the walls of the planned base, the protesters decided to build an observation tower nearby so they could peek over. They told the local police in advance. One can imagine that in Britain they would have met with a firm thumbs down, but here the police gave every indication that they didn't give two hoots about the tower. After some negotiations, said Stephanie Westbrook, an American activist, they were allowed to proceed.
"Construction of the tower began," Ms Westbrook explained, "with mixing cement and cutting and mounting of scaffolding material. Everything was done out in the open and communicated by megaphone. Some of the guys took a ladder over to the fence of the base and tied a scarecrow to it so it could keep an eye on what was happening inside. The atmosphere was jovial." The tower was part of a 10-day anti-base protest programme, and around 1pm, a police officer assured them that the tower could stay up for the whole 10 days.
But then an officer from a different force showed up to say the tower had to come down at once. Suddenly the genial mass of police around the site put on helmets and gloves and raised shields and billy clubs and marched towards the protesters. The protesters sat down and the police waded in. By the end of the afternoon the tower was no more, and 20 protesters had been treated in hospital for their injuries.
A tear-stained cheek
The fashion designer Giorgio Armani and the football star Francesco Totti were among 60,000 Madonna fans who packed Rome's Olympic Stadium for the only Italian date of her "Sticky & Sweet" Tour. The singer couldn't resist reminding her audience of all the times she had made Italian Catholics blush, dedicating "Like a Virgin" to the Pope – "because he loves me, because I'm also a child of God ..."
Meanwhile, this is a country that has plenty of Madonna statues, with some said to shed tears, but the latest one is in honour of the singer and will be built in the Abruzzo region where her grandparents were born.
-
Print Article
-
Email Article
-
Click here for copyright permissions
Copyright 2008 Independent News and Media Limited
Thank you Peter Popham for covering the event in Vicenza . I wasn't there but am a British member of this peaceful and dedicated group. The full report by Stephanie Westbrook makes hair raising reading so to see it in the UK press is very important.
I have heard other incidents of late of unpredictable and aggresive behaviour by the forces that be in the Italy that now exists under Berlusconi and his cohorts - most worrying, things will only get worse I fear. So please keep everyone informed on any other abuses of power.
The police are now stopping registered drivers at the airports of Rome, demanding to see proof that they have correct fiscal documentation for their journeys - this being after they have collected their passengers, when they could have asked them whilst the drivers were waiting, thereby avoiding discomfort and confusion to innocent holidaymakers arriving for a break in the eternal capital. I understand they were extremely aggresive and threatening.
Posted by julia | 13.09.08, 18:19 GMT
Nardini is right. Yet another silly & mistaken view of Italy by ignorant English reporting. Bruno Hanson.
Posted by Bruno Hanson | 08.09.08, 11:52 GMT
I am feeling rather disappointed with you at the moment, Peter Popham. You have been here long enough to know that there are several different, unrelated, types of police here in Italy. You should also, by now, know that any kind of building work requires permissions and approvals. You talk of mixing cement, scaffold pipes, etc. as though it is acceptable to allow people to build such structures willy-nilly in Italy (or even in the UK, come to that). Well, it isn't. What would have been the situation if the scaffold tower had collapsed with 20 people on it? Would it have then been the fault of the Italian "police" to have allowed its construction to proceed? I think we are back to the misrepresentation of the beach in Naples situation where the two girls died, aren't we. Are you really that disillusioned with Italy?
Posted by Nardini | 08.09.08, 09:46 GMT