Protest may cause delays in Naples

[unhappycamper]

Protest may cause delays in Naples
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, June 01, 2008

NAPLES, Italy — U.S. Navy officials in Naples are warning motorists to expect possible commuting delays to the Capodichino base if demonstrators opposed to expansion of the Dal Molin airfield picket the installation.

An activist group called Cento donne cento bici (100 women 100 bikes) intends to visit several U.S. military bases in Italy to deliver a letter of protest to the installations’ commanding officers, said Scott Campbell, a spokesman for Navy Region Europe.

On May 19, the protesters visited the U.S. Navy base in Sicily without incident, he said. The four-woman group biked to Naval Air Station Sigonella II to deliver its mission statement, accepted by Italian carabinieri who had gathered at the base gates in preparation for a possible demonstration. The women handed a typewritten statement and left without causing any problems, Campbell said.

Officials don’t know whether to expect the same on Monday, Campbell said.

For the past two years, the four women have protested the controversial U.S. expansion plans for Dal Molin airfield in northern Italy, according to the statement delivered in Sigonella, and provided to Stars and Stripes by public affairs.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=55237