Tens of thousands stage protest in Italy against US base

Tens of thousands of people have taken part in a mass rally against the expansion of a US military base in northern Italy.

The planned expansion of the Vicenza air base is an embarrassment for the centre-left government which has backed the US plan, while left wing members of Prime Minister Romano Prodi's administration oppose it.

"No To The Bases" and "America No Thanks" said some of the banners waved at the rally through the town which brought communists, pacifists and ecologists from across Italy on Saturday.

While police estimated the number of demonstrators at 25,000, journalists at the scene said there were probably more than 100,000. The US embassy put out a travel advisory urging US nationals to stay away from Vicenza on Friday and Saturday.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070217/wl_afp/italyusmilitary_070217142059

Does anyone know just how many military bases we have around the world? I recall knowing once, and it was a shockingly high number.

That is the subject of his book, The Sorrows of Empire. I plan to order and read his new book, Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic soon.

At that point in time, I didn't feel uncomfortable traveling in Italy.









A travel warning for Italy? Shit. We really are a pariah.

a year the Italian Communist Party protested us and we couldn't leave the ship or our base.....and then we got to play shoot the greenpeace activist with a high powered fire hose....it was fun at the time.....

:eyes:

Tens of thousands of people marched through the northeastern Italian city of Vicenza under heavy police guard on Saturday to protest a planned U.S. military base expansion.

Despite fears that violent demonstrators would be drawn to the protest, the march took place without incident, finishing outside the main train station where it started, as hundred of police officers stood guard and helicopters hovered overhead. The route did not pass the airfield where the expanded base is to be built, where critics keep a permanent picket.

''The government majority -- whether they agree with the protest or, like me, do not -- welcomes that the demonstration in Vicenza finished in an orderly fashion,'' said Premier Romano Prodi, who had urged protesters to be peaceful. ''This must be stressed.''

Police estimated the crowd at 50,000 to 80,000, while organizers put the numbers at 120,000.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Italy-US-Base-Protest.html

that we are not suppose to care what others say or think about us and what we do...