ROME - Anti-war militants took advantage of a national train strike in Italy to pause to map out strategy Sunday, after back-to-back days of trying to block trains transporting U.S. military equipment.

Sunday was "a day of reflection and organization because there doesn't appear to be any military convoy" moving on the Italian railways, Luca Casarini, one of the militants' leaders, was quoted as telling Italian news agencies in Pisa, where the strategy session was held.

Italian train personnel, as part of a long-running contract dispute unrelated to the anti-war movement, were carrying out a 24-hour strike that was running from late Saturday until late Sunday evening.

On Saturday, demonstrators opposed to a possible war in Iraq attempted to block trains moving U.S. military equipment, including armored vehicles and gasoline tanker trucks, from northern Italy to a U.S. military base near Pisa, in western Italy.

A day earlier, protesters stopped blocked tracks to force another train carrying military equipment to take another route.

U.S. military authorities haven't said if any of this equipment might be destined for any war against Iraq.

After the Italian government of conservative Premier Silvio Berlusconi earlier this month said it would allow the United States use of its trains, roads and ports to move military equipment, some anti-war activists vowed to disrupt the transport.

Casarini, whose group calls itself The Disobedient Ones, was also one of the Italian leaders of the anti-globalization protests that targeted the Group of Eight summit in Genoa in 2001.

Those protests started out peacefully. Police battled back, using tear gas, and in one clash, fatally shot a protester who was one of several youths attacking a police vehicle.



Italian protesters try to stop U.S. military trains

Sat Feb 22,10:22 AM ET

ROME - Demonstrators opposed to a possible war in Iraq tried Saturday to block trains moving U.S. military equipment across the country, protesting at several rail stations in northern Italy.

About 120 protesters stopped a train moving U.S. military equipment from Vicenza to the U.S. base of Camp Darby, near Pisa, late Friday, forcing the train to take a different route. The protests continued Saturday, with organizers saying about 1,000 activists were involved across the country.

Spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Collins of the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force said Italian authorities were taking care of the disturbance, and offered few details on the contents or number of trains carrying military equipment.

The protesters are part of a group of anti-globalization and anti-war activists called I Disobbedienti — The Disobedient. Their leader, Luca Casarini, complained that a war was being "prepared without the consensus of the public."

The government of conservative Premier Silvio Berlusconi has been a strong supporter of the Bush administration's position on Iraq. Italy has offered logistical help, such as use of military bases, ports, highways and other infrastructure.

However, Italy is also home to a strong anti-war movement, and about 1 million people turned out last Saturday for a peace rally in Rome.

"We are guarding all the rail lines being used by the American Army to transport material for war from the Vicenza base to the Camp Darby base in Tuscany," Casarini said by phone from a train station near Bologna. "This is serious because they're using the civilian transport network. There are 26 trains expected, and we want to block them because we don't want this war."

Italian police moved the protesters away from some rail lines. There had been no serious clashes.

Collins said the equipment "doesn't pose any threat to anyone in the community," and added that he did not know if it was eventually headed to the Gulf.



Italian protesters stop train reportedly with U.S. military equipment

Fri Feb 21, 4:57 PM ET

PADUA, Italy - A group of anti-war protesters stopped a train reportedly transporting U.S. military equipment in northern Italy on Friday night, a police official said.

Italian news reports said the train was headed with American military equipment from Vicenza to the U.S. base of Camp Darby, near Pisa, and that it turned back after coming across protesters in the small town of Monselice, 15 kilometers (10 miles) south of Padua.

A police official in Padua said on condition of anonymity that about 120 protesters had gathered in Monselice and that authorities decided not to try to get the train through the station. Another police official said the train had gone back and was trying to reach Camp Darby by another route.

Neither official would discuss the contents of the train.

Spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Collins of the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force said some protesters had earlier turned up at rail lines in another town, but he had no information about the later incident.

Italy is home to a strong anti-war protest movement, and about 2 million people turned out last Saturday for a peace rally in Rome.



FOTO: Anti-war demonstrators block tracks in the station of Monselice, northern Italy, Friday, Feb. 21, 2003, trying to stop a train allegedly full of U.S. war material believed to be on its way to the U.S. military base of Camp Darby. (AP Photo/Nicolo' Zangirolami)