{"id":1015,"date":"2017-05-26T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T10:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/?p=1015"},"modified":"2018-02-10T11:22:47","modified_gmt":"2018-02-10T10:22:47","slug":"residents-of-sicilian-town-near-site-of-g-7-meeting-brace-for-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/?p=1015","title":{"rendered":"Residents of Sicilian town near site of G-7 meeting brace for impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wooden planks and metal sheets now fortify the fronts of restaurants, pubs and ice cream parlors in…<\/p>\n

by Stefano Pitrelli, The Washington Post<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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GIARDINI NAXOS \u2014<\/p>\n

Most restaurants, pubs and ice cream parlors along the famous seaside of this tourist-friendly Sicilian town are literally battening down the hatches. Wooden planks and metal sheets now fortify most of their fronts, parasols are disappearing from the beach and police units constantly patrol the streets as the nearly 10,000 residents of this ancient Greek colony brace for impact ahead of a planned protest march on Saturday against the Group of Seven meetings in the next-door city of Taormina \u2014 where all demonstrations have been strictly forbidden.<\/p>\n

Fearing outbursts of violence during the rally, the economic heart of the seaside town is temporarily shutting down at the very inception of the summer season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re expecting between 3,000 and 4,000 protesters, and more than 2,000 journalists\u201d said Nello Lo Turco, 65, a former math teacher who for the last eight years has been the mayor of a town used to a different kind of invasion, with up to 50,000 tourists every summer.<\/p>\n

At least a thousand law enforcement agents are stationed here, a local police official said on the condition of anonymity. \u201cAll of them are ready to wear their riot gear,\u201d the official explained. \u201cIt\u2019s a tradition for events like this one. So experience tells me there is indeed a chance that fringe groups might .\u2009.\u2009. try to gain visibility by clashing with the police.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rally organizers are aware of the town\u2019s growing anxiety. Luigi Sturniolo, 56, a placid librarian and veteran social activist from the nearby city of Messina, is one of them. Last Sunday, along with 15 other activists, he came to Giardini to distribute leaflets meant to assuage the fears of the locals by explaining their reasons for protesting:<\/div>\n
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\u201cOn the 27th of May we will rally close to the G7\u2019s red zone,\u201d the leaflet said. \u201cWe will do this because the meeting of the so called \u2018great seven\u2019 is the political expression of a scary global inequality .\u2009.\u2009. because [they\u2019re preparing for] a war on migrants. We\u2019ll be there to oppose Trump\u2019s racism, xenophobia and sexism during his debut on the global stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The mayor seems to agree with the spirit of the protest. \u201cThey\u2019re putting their finger on the sore spot,\u201d Lo Turco said. Most town residents, including those who seemed to be preparing for a siege, recognize the protesters\u2019 right to express their opinions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cEveryone is free to protest. Their protest against these \u2018greats\u2019 is fair. But the likelihood [of violence erupting] is high where black blocs are concerned,\u201d said Maurizio Donato, 39, owner of Schizzo, an ice cream parlor on the seaside. \u201cI can understand striking at multinational [corporations], but why should they hit a small-scale entrepreneur?\u201d he added while covering his store with cardboard and metal sheets.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope this is all for nothing, and that nothing happens, but I\u2019m afraid,\u201d he said. \u201cIt feels like we\u2019re bracing for a hurricane.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wooden planks and metal sheets now fortify the fronts of restaurants, pubs and ice cream parlors in… by Stefano Pitrelli, The Washington Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4,107,20,108],"class_list":["post-1015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-washpost","tag-economia","tag-g7","tag-societa","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1015"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1016,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015\/revisions\/1016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}