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Rome rain dampens rally tensions

Anti-war protesters mock government leaders as "the Three Wise Men"

ROME, Italy -- Thousands of police have divided the centre of Rome with a wall of steel as crowds gathered for rival rallies for and against the coalition offensive in Afghanistan.

But with heavy rain falling on the city, projections of 200,000 campaigners facing each other on the streets were hastily revised.

The "USA Day" rally organised by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to back the offensive against the Taliban seemed likely to draw less than 50,000 instead of the 100,000 expected.

Organisers of the rival march for "peace and solidarity with all oppressed peoples" said they anticipated 30-50,000 demonstrators.

Security forces were out en masse to prevent clashes and anti-aircraft batteries set up to protect against air attack.

The spotlight was on the police after the G8 summit in Genoa earlier this year when police shot dead an anti-globalisation protester during two days of violence.

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Five thousand officers were manning a 3-km line of steel barriers stretching from near the Vatican on one side, past Parliament in the city centre and skirting the presidential palace and main rail station.

Up to 1,000 plain-clothes officers were expected to mingle with the crowds, with police fearing that violent elements might try to use peaceful protesters as a cover.

The extremist Black Bloc group, which wrought havoc in Genoa, had threatened to infiltrate the pro-USA rally, being held just a few hundred metres from the start of the peace march.

Both the march and the rally -- taking place in Piazza del Popolo (People's Square) as Berlusconi tries to unite the nation behind Italy's role in the U.S.-led coalition -- were due to begin at about 1430 GMT.

To add to security measures, all commercial flights were being diverted around Rome's airspace, Reuters reported, and an AWACS air-warning plane was patrolling the skies for any rogue aircraft.

The USA Day rally came days after Parliament, which Berlusconi comfortably controls, voted overwhelmingly to send about 2,700 Italian troops and assorted military equipment to support the campaign against the Taliban.

Berlusconi, head of a conservative coalition, is at pains to show how unwavering an ally he is of Washington and the U.S.-led offensive.

Police are on "high alert"

Sophia Loren, Luciano Pavarotti and New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani were due to speak to the crowds at the rally via a video link. Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli was to sing live on stage and Berlusconi to deliver the closing speech.

Berlusconi's conservative Forza Italia party had booked 500 buses to transport 30,000 supporters into Rome from around the country. They were expected to be joined by 70,000 non-party members.

But on Friday a nationwide poll by the Ispo research group showed 51 percent of those questioned approved of participation, down from 70 percent a month ago.

The organisers of the anti-war march, No Global Forum, said it would be entirely peaceful.

Their march was organised months ago, originally to protest against a summit of the Food and Agriculture Organisation planned in Rome for this week.

That summit was postponed until 2002 amid security fears in the wake of the attacks on the United States.