Post by Noname on Jun 4, 2004 10:56:11 GMT -5
Pontiff Meets With President, Calls for Return of Iraq's Sovereignty
By Rachel Sanderson and Steve Holland, Reuters
ROME (June 4) -- Pope John Paul piled pressure on George W. Bush over Iraq when they met on Friday while beyond the walls of Vatican City, rowdy anti-war protesters tried to disrupt the president's visit to Rome.
At various points around the city, groups of people blocked traffic, set dustbins alight, lit flares and daubed slogans against Bush on walls. One group carried a U.S. flag defaced with a swastika.
The protesters were kept away from Bush, whose motorcade of around 20 vehicles swept past lines of riot police manning cordons.
During a three-day trip to Italy and France, Bush will seek international support for his Iraq mission and commemorate the June 1944 liberation of Rome and D-Day invasion of Normandy.
The pope, who strongly opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, spoke of his concern about the ''grave unrest'' in the Middle East, and called for the ''speedy return of Iraq's sovereignty.''
''It is the evident desire of everyone that this situation now be normalized as quickly as possible with the active participation of the international community and, in particular, the United Nations organization,'' the pope said.
Bush responded by telling the pontiff he would work for ''human liberty and human dignity.'' He made no direct mention of Iraq or the prison abuse scandal that angered the Vatican.
Bush's visit was timed to commemorate the liberation of Rome by Allied forces 60 years ago, but it is the actions of a new generation of U.S. soldiers in Iraq that has raised passions.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a staunch Bush ally, has warned of violent protests. Fears of a repeat of the mayhem that marred a G8 summit in Genoa in July 2001 led Italy to bolster security massively until Bush leaves on Saturday.
Most Italians opposed last year's invasion of Iraq and many want Rome to withdraw its 2,700 troops stationed there, a move Berlusconi's government has rejected.
TIGHT SECURITY
Masked police snipers manned roofs surrounding the U.S. ambassador's residence where Bush stayed the night as numerous rainbow-colored peace flags hung from nearby balconies.
As helicopters buzzed overhead, riot police with shields formed a human wall outside Rome's Termini station where groups from as far afield as Palermo and Milan arrived by train.
''I'm here to show my revulsion of our Fuhrer George Bush and his servant Berlusconi,'' said Giorgio Faleri, a 25-year-old student from Pisa who was carrying an Iraqi flag.
One chant -- swiftly condemned by politicians of all parties -- seemed to invite new car bomb attacks on occupying troops in Iraq like the one that killed 19 Italians in Nassiriya in November. ''May there be 10, 100, 1,000 Nassiriyas'' yelled the crowd.
Authorities said they would allow peaceful protests, but they deployed some 10,000 police who were out in force around rail and metro stations and in piazzas.
Demonstrators gathering for a protest march across the city massed behind a large banner reading ''No War - No Bush.''
Bush presented the pope with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian award, at their first meeting since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2001.
The pictures beamed back home could help Bush with Christians in general, and Catholic voters in particular, in his November re-election bid.
Bush later laid a wreath at the Ardeatine Caves, site of one of the worst World War II massacres in Italy, bowing his head as he stood alongside Berlusconi at the memorial.
Bush's biggest goal on his weekend trip -- which takes him away from a political storm in Washington after the resignation of the head of the CIA -- will be to try to overcome differences on a new U.N. resolution endorsing Iraq's caretaker government and establishing a U.S.-led multinational force.
On Saturday Bush meets French President Jacques Chirac, hoping to warm relations strained over Iraq, before attending D-Day anniversary ceremonies in Normandy on Sunday.
By Rachel Sanderson and Steve Holland, Reuters
ROME (June 4) -- Pope John Paul piled pressure on George W. Bush over Iraq when they met on Friday while beyond the walls of Vatican City, rowdy anti-war protesters tried to disrupt the president's visit to Rome.
At various points around the city, groups of people blocked traffic, set dustbins alight, lit flares and daubed slogans against Bush on walls. One group carried a U.S. flag defaced with a swastika.
The protesters were kept away from Bush, whose motorcade of around 20 vehicles swept past lines of riot police manning cordons.
During a three-day trip to Italy and France, Bush will seek international support for his Iraq mission and commemorate the June 1944 liberation of Rome and D-Day invasion of Normandy.
The pope, who strongly opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, spoke of his concern about the ''grave unrest'' in the Middle East, and called for the ''speedy return of Iraq's sovereignty.''
''It is the evident desire of everyone that this situation now be normalized as quickly as possible with the active participation of the international community and, in particular, the United Nations organization,'' the pope said.
Bush responded by telling the pontiff he would work for ''human liberty and human dignity.'' He made no direct mention of Iraq or the prison abuse scandal that angered the Vatican.
Bush's visit was timed to commemorate the liberation of Rome by Allied forces 60 years ago, but it is the actions of a new generation of U.S. soldiers in Iraq that has raised passions.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a staunch Bush ally, has warned of violent protests. Fears of a repeat of the mayhem that marred a G8 summit in Genoa in July 2001 led Italy to bolster security massively until Bush leaves on Saturday.
Most Italians opposed last year's invasion of Iraq and many want Rome to withdraw its 2,700 troops stationed there, a move Berlusconi's government has rejected.
TIGHT SECURITY
Masked police snipers manned roofs surrounding the U.S. ambassador's residence where Bush stayed the night as numerous rainbow-colored peace flags hung from nearby balconies.
As helicopters buzzed overhead, riot police with shields formed a human wall outside Rome's Termini station where groups from as far afield as Palermo and Milan arrived by train.
''I'm here to show my revulsion of our Fuhrer George Bush and his servant Berlusconi,'' said Giorgio Faleri, a 25-year-old student from Pisa who was carrying an Iraqi flag.
One chant -- swiftly condemned by politicians of all parties -- seemed to invite new car bomb attacks on occupying troops in Iraq like the one that killed 19 Italians in Nassiriya in November. ''May there be 10, 100, 1,000 Nassiriyas'' yelled the crowd.
Authorities said they would allow peaceful protests, but they deployed some 10,000 police who were out in force around rail and metro stations and in piazzas.
Demonstrators gathering for a protest march across the city massed behind a large banner reading ''No War - No Bush.''
Bush presented the pope with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian award, at their first meeting since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2001.
The pictures beamed back home could help Bush with Christians in general, and Catholic voters in particular, in his November re-election bid.
Bush later laid a wreath at the Ardeatine Caves, site of one of the worst World War II massacres in Italy, bowing his head as he stood alongside Berlusconi at the memorial.
Bush's biggest goal on his weekend trip -- which takes him away from a political storm in Washington after the resignation of the head of the CIA -- will be to try to overcome differences on a new U.N. resolution endorsing Iraq's caretaker government and establishing a U.S.-led multinational force.
On Saturday Bush meets French President Jacques Chirac, hoping to warm relations strained over Iraq, before attending D-Day anniversary ceremonies in Normandy on Sunday.
