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Peace protesters breach U.S. base
PISA, Italy -- A group of protesters demonstrating at possible war against Iraq forced their way through the perimeter fence of a U.S. military base in central Italy. The protesters, who broke off from thousands of demonstrators marching peacefully in front of the U.S. Camp Darby base on the coast of Tuscany Saturday were swiftly forced out of the base by Italian police, witnesses told Reuters. Tens of thousands of protesters carrying rainbow peace banners marched on the road leading to the base near the town of Pisa, carrying anti-war banners and flags and calling for a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis. A few protesters hurled smoking flares and others pulled down a part of the fence, before being blocked by a line of Italian riot police. However, said The Associated Press, most protested peacefully, with many demonstrators attaching peace messages to the fence. Protest organizers told AP about 50,000 people had turned out Saturday, although police put the figure closer to 20,000. Camp Darby, home to huge ammunitions stocks, was set up in 1952 as a logistics base and houses some 400 U.S. personnel. Italy's center-right Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been one of Washington's staunchest allies in the Iraq crisis, but polls show 70 percent of Italians oppose any war against Iraq, even if sanctioned by a U.N. resolution. Last month more than a million people took to the streets in Rome to voice their opposition to a war and in recent weeks protesters have repeatedly tried to block trains carrying U.S. military equipment through Italy. Thousands of peace protesters also took to the streets across Britain on Saturday as a protest against moves to war against Iraq. More than 20 people were arrested in the garrison town of Colchester, eastern England, after staging a sit-down protest outside an army barracks. At least 10,000 people protested in the rain in the north-western England city of Manchester, the largest of several demonstrations organized by the Stop The War Coalition group. Saturday's demonstrators waved "No blood for oil" banners in what was said by the organizers to be Manchester's biggest march for years. Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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