Posted on 02/17/2007 2:24:57 PM PST by La Enchiladita
By COLLEEN BARRY VICENZA, Italy - 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.
The demonstrators, estimated by police to number 50,000 to 80,000, marched peacefully along the four-mile route as hundreds of policemen stood guard and helicopters hovered above.
Some protesters wore T-shirts saying "Yankee Go Home" and others waved rainbow peace flags as the demonstration headed out from city's train station. It was not scheduled to pass the site of the planned expansion, where critics of the project keep a permanent picket.
"To build a military base is not the gesture of a peaceful government," said Simone Pasin, a 24-year-old resident of the city. "I think it's time to dismantle military bases and put up structures of peace."
The expansion, which has strained relations within Italy's governing center-left coalition, is part of the U.S. Army's overall transformation into a lighter, more mobile force. Under it, elements of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, a rapid reaction unit now spread between Italy and Germany, would be reunited at the Vicenza base.
In recent years the 173d Airborne Brigade has also been deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2003, the unit made the biggest airdrop since World War II when its soldiers landed in northern Iraq.
Special trains and buses brought in leftist activists and anti-globalization protesters from across Italy to support local residents who are concerned that the expansion could cause traffic, deplete local resources and increase the risk of terror attacks.
Premier Romano Prodi angered his far-left allies last month when he said the government would not oppose the base expansion. Communist and Green parties _ members of the governing coalition _ have backed the protest.
Prodi has said his government had no reason to halt the expansion, which has been approved by Vicenza's city council.
The U.S. Embassy in Rome had advised Americans to avoid Vicenza on Saturday and Interior Minister Giuliano Amato warned that violent protesters could infiltrate the march. Prodi, in a radio address hours before the demonstration, urged protesters to be peaceful.
The Ederle base has about 2,600 active duty military personnel. The expansion at the Dal Molin airport, on the other side of town, would allow the military to move four battalions now based in Germany, adding another 1,600 active duty personnel.
Some in the ruling coalition feared the demonstration might suggest anti-U.S. sentiment in the country. But the protest also drew Americans.
"The U.S. should not build military bases, the U.S. should think of its domestic problems," said John Gilbert, who teaches English at the University of Florence and was in a group of about 20 Americans who had traveled from Rome and Florence.
The Americans were greeted by Italians, who went up to them to shake their hands or snap pictures in a show of solidarity.
Everybody knows that here is a strong movement among Freepers to relocate the current US deployment from Germany to other European countries since the German chancellor Schroeder refused to help America with its Iraq campain. They want to punish us Germans with a pull-out since they think that we are economically dependent on the attendance of those troops (BTW - this was never the case and today there would only some unpleasant local effects that are irrelevant to the German economy as a whole).
It doesn't seem to be a good idea since those troops are obviously not welcome in other European places while most Germans at least still see them as good customers for their local products although the German public for sure does not understand them as a contribution to the German security since the end of the cold war. It might be unpolite to say it here, but it is simply the plain truth. It was completely different before 1990, but today?
Personally I think it would be the best idea to transfer those troops to America slow by slow since their presence in Europe does not make much sense anymore.
P.S.
Of course I am extremely thankful for the security those GIs provided during the cold war and for their effort to protect us from the Red Army. It would have been impossible for Europe to live in freedom and welath without them. Therefore I do not want to leave the impression that anybody wants to kick them out. This is definitly not the case. We simply do not see any strategic need for them anymore.
Yep! This is absolutely correct. It is indeed true that the current US-administation is extremely unpopular while common Americans have a really good reputation.
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