İtalian protesters prior to the clashes with police
Environmentalists and activist gave Italian police a hard time on Monday at protests against a planned high-speed rail line running through a scenic valley in the Italian Alps.
The clashes between occurred local residents, organised by italian activists and italian police as construction workers prepared to begin work on the tunnel in the Susa Valley ( Val di Susa ) near Turin, which will connect rail lines between Lyon in France and Turin in Italy, which is expected decrease the travel time by nearly half.
More than 2000 demonstrators took part in a peaceful, candlelight procession prayer vigil through the night against the project in the valley on Sunday night.
‘A group of opponents began attacking the police in a pretty violent way, and the police responded by charging them,’ stated Mario Virano, the head government official in charge of construction of the Lyon-Turin speed rail line.
Lyon Turin train tunnel threatens the beauty of italian Alps
The Italian government is determined to continue with the project, which is backed by EU money, and has ordered work to continue with or without environmental objections.
The environmentalists and activist try to protect the area of outstanding natural beauty in the northern part of Italy, the italian Alps, although safeguards have been built into the multi-billion euro project.
