Police clashed with
protestors Wednesday during demonstrations against a
controversial TAV high-speed rail project in northern Italy.
Protestors created small barricades using shrubbery as they
demanded a halt to the project including the public
expropriation of land in the area where the high-speed train
line, which will connect Turin to Lyon, is being built.
No TAV protestors said affected property owners were
offered as much as five times the value of their land by
governments anxious to create what proponents say will be an
important link for business and industry.
Opponents, who rallied near an existing rail line that will
be replaced by the TAV, said that was an enormous waste of
taxpayers' money.
The 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 the line 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.
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