Police seize home-made explosive at TAV construction site

Protesters throw firecrackers, cops respond with tear gas

(ANSA) - Turin, July 25 - Police on Friday seized a homemade explosive, the remains of several rockets with a range of up to 150 meters, fireworks, and stones from a construction site at Chiomonte in the northern Susa Valley, where protests against construction of a TAV high-speed rail line linking Italy to France turned violent overnight.

The homemade explosive was made up of a small bottle of alcohol whose trigger was attached to a firecracker, ANSA sources said. Some of the firecrackers had been mounted onto homemade mortars to increase their range, police said. The seizure came after protesters threw firecrackers and police tried to disperse them with tear gas. One police officer sustained burns to his ankle, police said. Some 30 protesters against the Turin-Lyon rail link also temporarily blocked off a motorway that leads to France, setting tires alight. Work at the site was suspended during the protest, but resumed immediately after. More protests are planned for Saturday, organizers said.

Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said Friday that the protests were being used to "attack the State". "What we have here is a criminal attack perpetrated by those who would use the project to attack the State," Lupi said. "They will not be allowed any space". No-TAV protests, which have sometimes turned violent, have built up steam in recent years and been taken up by leftist and anti-capitalist groups despite government efforts to persuade opponents that it is an essential piece of infrastructure, especially when Italy's economy has been suffering its longest postwar recession. The Italian and French governments have insisted that the link will not only speed passenger and freight traffic but also boost both countries' economies.