Summit protesters greeted by ‘fortress Genoa’
Protesters were arriving in the Italian city of Genoa today to find it transformed into a fortress.
People from aid organisations who hope to hold a peaceful march against Third World debt during the G8 summit on Saturday were shocked by the extent of the security operation which has turned a large part of the city centre into a ghost town.
The authorities are deploying 16,000 soldiers and police officers in a bid to prevent the violence which marred recent summits in Gothenburg, Sweden and Salzburg, Austria.
They have set up a restricted ‘‘red’’ zone around the palace where the summit will take place, protected by lines of carabinieri and 15ft high steel mesh fences.
Supporters of British development agencies Cafod and Christian Aid plan to march on Saturday under the banner of ‘‘drop the debt’’.
But Andrew Pendleton, spokesman for Christian Aid, said plans for the march by up to 2,500 people from a variety of different organisations might have to be changed if there was trouble tomorrow, the first day of the three-day summit.
‘‘It will be a terrible shame if the authorities don’t allow legitimate protests to take place,’’ he said.
‘‘Demonstrating for something people believe in, such as the cancellation of Third World debt, should be cherished, and the extraordinary length the Italians are going to, remind us how important a non-violent protest like ours is.’’
He said the march might even be rerouted to Milan if nothing can be achieved in Genoa.
Fleur Anderson, head of campaigns for Cafod, said: ‘‘We want to make sure that a peaceful protest like this goes ahead. We have contingency planning in case violence affects the march going ahead.’’
Yesterday the ‘‘red’’ zone, which cuts through a large swathe of the city centre, was peaceful in the extreme, with police standing around in groups watching the odd local or journalist wander through after being carefully security-checked first.
There was no largescale build up of protesters as yet.
Preparations for the summit were hindered on Monday when a parcel bomb exploded in a police station, injuring a policeman.
Some 100,000 protesters are expected to gather in the city for what has been described by some activists as the most ambitious of two years of disrupting summits.
