Americans shocked by Rome's rage
Americans shocked by Rome's rage
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: June 11 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 11 2007 03:00
For the Cooper family, from Knoxville, Tennessee, visiting Rome was supposed to be the highlight to their two-week vacation in Europe.
Instead, they arrived on Saturday to find some of the Eternal City's most famous streets and piazzas packed with tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators protesting against a visit by President George W. Bush on his way home from a G8 summit.
"We come from a place where you just don't see this kind of street protest," said John Cooper, watching with his wife and two teenage children as demonstrators passed nearby waving communist flags, chanting "Yankee Go Home" and brandishing banners that compared Mr Bush to Hitler.
As Mr Cooper spoke, a skirmish erupted between protesters and riot police, sending the family fleeing for safety down a side street. The violence flared for the next two hours, finally quelled by thousands of baton-wielding police and several bursts of tear gas.
For observers, the rally brought a jarring reminder of the extent to which the Iraq war still sours public opinion of the US in Europe, even as the transatlantic relationship shows signs of recovery at inter-governmental level.
Before the stop in Rome, Iraq had been largely absent from the agenda during Mr Bush's week-long trip to Europe, which included the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Albania, with a final call in Bulgaria today.
Silence on the war was particularly glaring at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, when Angela Merkel, German chancellor, steered talks towards areas with greater potential for co-operation, such as climate change and Africa.
Avoiding the issue has become easier since Europe's two most strident war critics - Gerhard Schröder, former German chancellor, and Jacques Chirac, former French president - have been replaced by Ms Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, who are more Atlanticist in outlook.
But while Europe's leaders may have decided to look beyond the war, Saturday's protests showed that many ordinary Europeans, particularly the young and left-leaning, still view the US through the prism of Iraq.
As is often the case, Mr Bush was insulated from hostile public opinion by a schedule that kept him away from the protests. He met the Pope at the Vatican in the morning, held talks with Romano Prodi, prime minister, in the afternoon and spent the rest of theday holed up in the US embassy.
But there was no such protection for the US tourists who came face-to-face with European anti-Americanism on the streets of Rome.
"After 9/11, the whole world was on our side," said Nick Capito, a 23-year-old student from Athens, Georgia. "It's sad to see how quickly it has changed."
Most US tourists said they believed the protest was aimed at Mr Bush rather than the American people and said they respected the Italians' right to protest.
But Mr Cooper's daughter, Sarah, admitted feeling resentful. "It's tough to take when you see people being so disrespectful of our president," she said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: June 11 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 11 2007 03:00
For the Cooper family, from Knoxville, Tennessee, visiting Rome was supposed to be the highlight to their two-week vacation in Europe.
Instead, they arrived on Saturday to find some of the Eternal City's most famous streets and piazzas packed with tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators protesting against a visit by President George W. Bush on his way home from a G8 summit.
"We come from a place where you just don't see this kind of street protest," said John Cooper, watching with his wife and two teenage children as demonstrators passed nearby waving communist flags, chanting "Yankee Go Home" and brandishing banners that compared Mr Bush to Hitler.
As Mr Cooper spoke, a skirmish erupted between protesters and riot police, sending the family fleeing for safety down a side street. The violence flared for the next two hours, finally quelled by thousands of baton-wielding police and several bursts of tear gas.
For observers, the rally brought a jarring reminder of the extent to which the Iraq war still sours public opinion of the US in Europe, even as the transatlantic relationship shows signs of recovery at inter-governmental level.
Before the stop in Rome, Iraq had been largely absent from the agenda during Mr Bush's week-long trip to Europe, which included the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Albania, with a final call in Bulgaria today.
Silence on the war was particularly glaring at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, when Angela Merkel, German chancellor, steered talks towards areas with greater potential for co-operation, such as climate change and Africa.
Avoiding the issue has become easier since Europe's two most strident war critics - Gerhard Schröder, former German chancellor, and Jacques Chirac, former French president - have been replaced by Ms Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, who are more Atlanticist in outlook.
But while Europe's leaders may have decided to look beyond the war, Saturday's protests showed that many ordinary Europeans, particularly the young and left-leaning, still view the US through the prism of Iraq.
As is often the case, Mr Bush was insulated from hostile public opinion by a schedule that kept him away from the protests. He met the Pope at the Vatican in the morning, held talks with Romano Prodi, prime minister, in the afternoon and spent the rest of theday holed up in the US embassy.
But there was no such protection for the US tourists who came face-to-face with European anti-Americanism on the streets of Rome.
"After 9/11, the whole world was on our side," said Nick Capito, a 23-year-old student from Athens, Georgia. "It's sad to see how quickly it has changed."
Most US tourists said they believed the protest was aimed at Mr Bush rather than the American people and said they respected the Italians' right to protest.
But Mr Cooper's daughter, Sarah, admitted feeling resentful. "It's tough to take when you see people being so disrespectful of our president," she said.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 8:59 AM
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