Italian police fire tear gas as protesters clash near Winter Olympics hockey venue
MILAN (AP) — Italian police fired tear gas and water cannon at dozens of protesters who threw fireworks and tried to enter a nearby highway. Winter Olympics Venue on Saturday.
The brief clash took place at the end of a peaceful march by thousands of people against the environmental impact of the Games and the presence of US agents in Italy.
Police stopped violent demonstrators trying to reach the Santagiulia Olympic ice hockey rink after the clash. By then, the larger peaceful protest, which included families with young children and students, had dispersed.
Earlier, a group of masked protesters had thrown smoke bombs and fireworks at the bridge overlooking a construction site about 800 meters (half a mile) from the Olympic Village, where about 1,500 athletes are located.
Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest changed direction, continuing towards the Santagiulia field. A heavy police presence guarded the entire route.
There was no indication that the protest and resulting road closures prevented athletes from transferring to events on the outskirts of Milan.
The demonstration coincided with US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Milan as head of the American delegation attending the opening ceremony on Friday.
He and his family visited “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci closer to the city center, away from the protest, which also opposed the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to ensure the security of the U.S. delegation.
U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE unit that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events such as the Olympics to assist with security. ICE handle at the forefront of immigration pressure It is known in the US as Enforcement and Deportation Operations, and there is no indication that its operatives have been sent to Italy.
At the larger, peaceful demonstration, which police said numbered 10,000, people carried cardboard cutouts representing trees felled for the construction of the new toboggan run in Cortina. A group of dancers performed by playing drums. Anti-ICE, profane music blared from a truck leading the march.
“Let’s take back the cities and free the mountains,” read a banner from a group calling itself the Unsustainable Olympic Committee. Another group, the Association of Proletarian Travelers, also organized the felling of trees.
“They bypassed the laws usually required for major infrastructure projects, citing the urgency of the Games,” said protester Guido Maffioli, who expressed concern that the private organization organizing the games would eventually pass its debt to Italian taxpayers.
Homemade banners read: “Withdraw from the Games: Genocidal States, Fascist Police and Polluting Sponsors.” fossil fuel companies These are the sponsors of the games. A woman was carrying an artificial tree on her back with the words “Hell Olympics” written on it.
The show was followed last week another When hundreds of people protested the deployment of ICE agents.
On Saturday, as last week, demonstrators said they opposed the presence of ICE agents, despite official statements from the investigative arm that a small number of agents would be on U.S. diplomatic territory and would not operate on the streets.
