Italian Civil Aviation Authority ENAC on Friday closed the air space over Rome as part of security measures for the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome, sources said. Air space with a radius of 10km from the centre of the capital was shut down at 6:00 on Friday and will remain closed until 23:00 Saturday. The ban includes flights by ultralight aircraft and drones.
Italy has further raised security for Saturday's EU summit even higher in light of Wednesday's terror attack in London. "We must further reinforce controls in the areas where people gather, as well as places which are noted for visitor influx," also for Saturday's EU summit celebrating the EU's founding charter, Interior Minister Marco Minniti said. The centre of the Italian capital was already set to be in lockdown amid fears that a EuroStop march may be infiltrated by extremists such as the black bloc who will try to wreak havoc. Minniti stressed that "we are faced with a threat that is taking on, ever more, the character of unpredictability: the times of reaction to the threat are being ever more reduced".
Controls at Italy's borders have already been stepped up ahead of Saturday's summit.
Rome will be heavily guarded against the risk of violence from demonstrations, principally from the leftwing EuroStop Social Platform which police say is at risk of being infiltrated by violent militants.
There will be stiff controls at airports, ports, rail stations, roads and motorways leading to the Italian capital.
Some 50 coaches carrying the leftist Eurostop demonstrators will arrive in Rome for the summit, sources said Wednesday. The coaches, coming from all over Italy, will be inspected and subjected to stiff security checks by police and Carabinieri at motorway exits, sources said. The Eurostop demo, the most prone to violence in the view of Rome police, will be attended by an estimated 8,000 people. The total participants in all six marches - both pro- and anti-EU -to be staged in Rome will be an estimated 25,000.
Officials said two security zones around key government buildings will be in place by Thursday for Saturday's event, which will be preceded by an audience with Pope Francis for EU leaders on Friday. One zone - named the Blue Area in honour of the EU flag - will be off-limits to demonstrators and equipped with checkpoints and 100 new surveillance cameras, with stringent rules regarding who is allowed in. Two sets of marches have been authorized on March 25, with around 6,500 pro-EU demonstrators expected in the morning and 13,000 anti-EU protestors - featuring groups from both ends of the political spectrum - in the afternoon. Authorities have traced different itineraries for each march in a bid to keep them separate in terms of both geography and time.
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