Italy

The security climate in the lead-up to the XX Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy , from February 10-26, should be focused less on the threat of radical Islam or even on indigenous terrorism, and more on the threat of the No TAV! protest movement. Protestors have caused severe disturbances to the TAV, a high-speed Alpine rail link between Italy and France , which has caused severe blockages and delays along the rail network. The demonstrators included members of Italian environmental group Legambiente and residents from local villages in the Susa Valley (Val di Susa), who claim the link will disrupt the environment and local communities and is unnecessary. The No TAV! movement is a swarming network of activists, not necessarily with a formal membership structure. Adherents may have anti-globalist, anti-foreigner, environmentalist, anarchist, and/or hooliganism?or a combination of these and other causes?as their motivation. In the first week of December 2005, No TAV! protesters became increasingly violent. As a result, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and aide, Gianni Letta, called upon community leaders in the Susa Valley to meet to bring violent anti-TAV protesting to an end prior to the start of the Games, according to Reuters, in a concerted effort to avoid any revival of the violence that took place during the Genoa G-8 meeting in 2001.