Italian Police Clash With Anti-Train Protesters
Date: 07-Dec-05
Country: ITALY
Thousands of people have protested against the line through the Val di Susa, north of Turin, which will require a tunnel more than 50 km (30 miles) long under the Alps.
A group of Val di Susa residents have been camping in the village of Venaus for eight days, preventing work starting on a line that will link two of Europe's biggest economies.
At 3:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) on Tuesday, police arrived to clear them out. Protesters said police hit them with truncheons and that about 15 people were slightly injured. The Turin police headquarters said 12 policemen and two photographers were hurt.
"About 200 members of (groups opposing the train) and anarchist groups who were already at the site opposed the operation, and were joined by numerous protesters," Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said in a statement.
Local unions called a strike in response to the evacuation and asked members to gather in a nearby village to protest, despite police having blocked the roads to Venaus.
Later, a group of activists temporarily blocked Turin's Porta Nuova train station, and hundreds of protesters gathered in one of the city's main squares, Piazza Castello, in front of the central police station.
Val di Susa inhabitants oppose the freight link, part of a Europe-wide infrastructure plan, partly because of the environmental damage it would cause. Many want existing train lines to be improved instead.
Others disagree, including French environmentalist Gerard Leras, head of the Greens of the Rhone-Alpes region.
"Dear Italians. By doing this you are signing your own condemnation. Lorries and pollution will suffocate your valley," he said in Italy's Corriere della Sera paper on Tuesday.
"Strengthening existing lines alone is not enough. A line capable of carrying 20 million tonnes doesn't go very far."
The people of the Val di Susa also worry that the mountains around them contain asbestos, which could cause health problems as workers drill the tunnel but Leras said there were now ways of treating the material safely.
The Italian government is in favour of the line, which will more than halve the journey time between Turin and Lyon to two hours, calling it a vital new link in Europe's transport system.
Centre-left opposition leader Romano Prodi called the Interior Ministry's decision to clear the building sites by force a "grave error" that could worsen an already tense situation.
