Tens of thousands of demonstrators joined a march Saturday to protest the building of a high-speed rail link between Lyon in France and the Italian city of Turin, set to host the 2006 Winter Olympics in February.
The parade of some 30,000 people, according to organizers, marched peacefully through Turin. The marchers were led by a dozen mayors from towns in Italy’s northwestern Susa valley, supported by some officials from French towns, although there has been little opposition to the high-speed TGV rail project in France.
The proposed 53-kilometre (33-mile) cross-border train tunnel linking Italy with France has stirred the anger of some Italians living in the region who question the usefulness, cost and environmental consequences of the project.
Unlike previous demonstrations, no confrontations with police were reported on Saturday.
Opposition to the rail link has cast a shadow over the Olympic games due to be held in the Italian Alps near Turin from February 10, with fears that access routes to the games’ sites could be blocked.
Saturday’s march ended at a community cultural event on the outskirts of Turin, organized by the mayors of valley villages that declined to take part in the protest march.
“We are a unified movement and we think that it is time to move from protests to proposals,” said Antonio Ferrentino, the head of an organization of Susa valley communities.
The valley officials are calling for reinforcing the existing rail lines, in order to avoid the costs and years of disruption from building a new rail link.
The Turin-Lyon link, considered a key element of a planned network of high-speed railways across Europe, is expected to cost an estimated 12.5 billion euros (15 billion dollars) and to be completed by 2020.
The project has the backing of both the French and Italian governments, the European Commission and Italy’s Piedmont region of which Turin is the capital.
However, in response to the protests, the government in Rome said last week it would conduct another environmental impact study of the project.
