Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said extremist groups were behind the violence following reports that protesters blocked roads and railways near Turin Wednesday.
About 30 people, including policemen, were injured Tuesday when police evacuated a camp preventing building work on a planned high-speed railway line connecting Italy and France. The protesters say the project in northern Italy’s Alpine Val di Susa area may release harmful deposits of asbestos on the mountains.
Reuters reports that buildings in Turin’s historical centre that were recently scrubbed clean for the 2006 Games, were covered in graffiti saying “Hands off Val di Susa” and “No to the high-speed train, No to the Olympics”.
Berlusconi issued a statement after a meeting with Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu which said “extreme left-wing groups from antagonistic and anarchic-insurrectionist wings are trying to extend the unrest from Val di Susa to Turin, Rome, Milan and various other cities. The government is committed to dealing firmly with this plan, which has nothing to do with the peaceful protest by inhabitants of the valley”.
Meanwhile Turin 2006 government supervisor Mario Pescante said Wednesday that a solution has been found to balance the conflict over Italy’s anti-doping laws during the 2006 Games.
Pescante said “we have found a solution – within three or four days it will be communicated. I was optimistic and now I am happy that we have found a solution that respects Italian law but eliminates all the dangers we faced”.
