From: "mart" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [pttp] Fw: Italy: Thousands March In Anti-NATO Demo Thursday September 27, 10:52 PM Thousands march in anti-war demo in Italian NATO city NAPLES, Italy, Sept 27 (AFP) - Thousands of anti-war demonstrators began marching through the centre of Naples on Thursday to protest a military build-up and the threat of a global conflict in the wake of the attacks on the United States. Around 3,000 anti-globalization and anti-war demonstrators gathered in the centre of Naples, which is home to NATO's Southern Command, to lead a march on the city's municipal headquarters several kilometres (miles) away. The protest had been scheduled in Naples when it was thought that a key NATO meeting would be held in the city, but although the talks were moved to Brussels, where they took place on Wednesday, the protesters decided to maintain their march. Hundreds of Italian police and carabinieri kept a close watch on the march, which was expected to attract up to 15,000 people, but the gathering bore none of the tension which preceded the rioting that marred the G8 summit in Genoa in July. Neither police nor any of the demonstrators wore protective riot gear, in marked contrast to the Genoa meeting. However some demonstrators took the precaution of wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the phone number of a lawyer in case of arrest. The mainly student marchers blew whistles and chanted anti-war slogans as they set off from Garibaldi Square, close to the main train station in the port city. Those at the front chanted in English "one, two, three, four ... we don't want another war. Five, six, seven, eight ... stop the violence, stop the hate." Many were from left-wing organizations and carried portraits of Karl Marx and Che Guevara. One banner, referring to US President George W. Bush and to fears that a military strike could spark a retaliatory attack using biological weapons, read: "Sure, W, we'll suck anthrax, so you can feel tough in your bunker." Classics student Tonia Capuano, 17, who handed out Communist party pamphlets, claimed many demonstrators had arrived from the northern cities of Turin and Venice, as well as Rome, and the Sicilian city of Palermo. Capuano claimed she would demonstrate anyway against anti-globalisation, "because that's where the war and the violence comes from". Another marcher, Giuliano Malet, 25, said: "I feel that war in Afghanistan, or Pakistan, would only hit poor people." The United States named blamed Islamic extremists based in Afghanistan as prime suspects for the September 11 attacks on its territory. Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested following the Genoa riots, and many were beaten amid widespread claims of police brutality. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
