US President George W. Bush will be greeted by widespread protests on his official visit to Italy next week, opponents of the war in Iraq said today.
The Italian government warned of violence from radical elements. "There are some serious threats. We are concerned by them but not frightened," said Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu.
But Mr Pisanu promised to allow peaceful protests when Mr Bush visits next Friday to mark 60 years since the liberation of Rome in World War Two.
Although mainstream opposition leaders are planning to demonstrate peacefully or stay away, some activists have promised violent confrontation. "If a criminal of the calibre of Bush is given the red carpet treatment, then rage is the right reaction," said Mr Luca Casarini, one of Italy's best-known anti-globalisation figures.
"Confronted by a heavily defended Rome that is looking to protect that terrorist Bush, the only thing to do is break the rules," he told La Stampanewspaper.
Officials in Rome fear a repeat of the violent clashes that marred a G8 summit in the northern city of Genoa three years ago when one protester was killed by police and hundreds of activists and police were wounded.
"I fear some bangs," the president of Rome's regional government, Mr Francesco Storace, told the Corriere della Seranewspaper. "There's a gang of irresponsible people playing with fire." When asked if by bangs he meant bombs, Mr Storace was quoted as saying: "Ultimately, yes."