(ANSA) - Demonstrators protesting against plans to build a high-speed rail link through the Italian Alps scuffled with police on Thursday but Premier Silvio Berlusconi vowed that the project would not be scrapped.
Officials said two protesters and 11 policemen had been slightly injured in the scuffles, which have broken out several times this week.
The premier said the project offers "every conceivable environmental guarantee," stressing that this has probably not been made sufficiently clear to protesters who are concerned over its environmental impact. On Wednesday, the European Commission offered to mediate in the dispute.
"I believe the Commission can play a mediating role... Its coordination must help to achieve dialogue," said Loyola De Palacio, who is the EC's coordinator for the wider project to construct a rail line from Turin in northern Italy to Lyon in France.
The former European transport commissioner said she wanted to meet with the protesters' representatives in order to "compare different points of view".
The protesters say that the plan to build a 53-kilometre tunnel through the Susa Valley in the Western Italian Alps just north of Turin will create an environmental disaster and destroy the area's natural beauty. They stress that the tunnel will take at least ten years to complete and argue that the money would be better spent on boosting existing transport infrastructure in the region.
They also say they fear for their health given that the mountains to be drilled through are suspected to contain both uranium and asbestos. Supporters of the project, including the European Commission, say the line will actually reduce pollution by
cutting the amount of goods transported by road.
