Riot breaks out as pope greets
Haider
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff Rome
When Pope John Paul II opened this
Holy Year on Dec. 24, 1999, in St. Peters Basilica, no one anticipated it
would end in a hail of smoke bombs and tear gas canisters a few hundred yards
away. As it turned out, while the Jubilee year officially ends Jan. 6, many
Romans will remember Dec. 16 as the day the years holiness evaporated in
two hours of ferocious urban warfare.
The late afternoon melee on the Via della Conciliazione, the broad
avenue that leads into St. Peters Square, was triggered by the
popes welcome of Jörg Haider, Austrias enfant terrible
on the far right. By far the most violent protest directed at the Vatican
in modern times, it left more than 30 protesters, 26 police and two journalists
injured.
Haider, unofficial leader of Austrias far-right
Freedom Party, is Europes most controversial figure, in part
for ambiguous statements about Nazism, in part for championing an
anti-immigrant platform that many consider xenophobic. His partys entry
into the Austrian government nine months ago sparked wide international outrage
and sanctions from the European Union, lifted only in September (NCR,
Feb. 18).
The pope received Haider as governor of the southern Austrian
province of Carinthia, whose turn it was to present the annual Christmas tree
for St. Peters Square.
While Haiders visit was the immediate cause of the tumult,
participants insisted that it had deeper roots, reflecting mounting anger at
the Vatican among some Italians who see it as an oppressive force. Many of the
demonstrators believe the Jubilee Year of 2000 will be remembered more for a
string of controversial political and theological moves from the Vatican than
for any spiritual uplift.
In the moments before the violence exploded, many of the
approximately 3,000 protesters, the majority in their 20s and 30s, voiced their
anger in conversations with NCR. Some spoke of the Vaticans
staunch opposition to this summers world Gay Pride festival, which the
pope called an insult to the Grand Jubilee of the Year 2000. Others
said they regarded the Sept. 3 beatification of Pope Pius IX, controversial for
his treatment of Italys Jewish minority in the 19th century, as a revival
of Catholic anti-Semitism.
Still others voiced outrage over the treatment of women by the
church, targeting especially the churchs opposition to the so-called
morning after pill, which prevents implantation of a fertilized
ovum. The Vatican has recently attempted to overturn the Italian
governments decision to make the pill available in pharmacies. Many
objected also to what they see as high-level Vatican support for proposed
immigration policies that would exclude Muslims. Such policies, proposed by
Cardinal Giacomo Biffi of Bologna, have received support from Cardinal Angelo
Sodano, Vatican secretary of state.
Some protesters pointed to the recent Vatican document Dominus
Iesus, which stressed Christ as the unique savior of the world, as an
example of religious intolerance.
The visit of Haider to Rome is the logical conclusion to
this Jubilee year, that has seen the Vatican embrace the right and discriminate
against homosexuals, against immigrants, against women, against other
religions, said a young woman who addressed the crowd.
The protesters, a mixture of communists, university students,
Jews, Greens and progressives, had planned to carry a large portrait of
Auschwitz detainees with the slogan never again up the Via della
Conciliazione to place it next to Haiders tree. They were interrupted by
a police line at the beginning of the avenue, in a small space named for John
XXIII.
The violence broke out when a group of the protesters attempted to
break through police barricades, using the portrait as a battering ram. The
response was swift, with teargas blasts followed by waves of police swinging
nightsticks moving into the crowd.
Some observers claimed the force was excessive. One man bleeding
from a head wound told NCR he had been ordered by police to stop and had
complied, only to be clubbed anyway.
Others pointed out that a core group of protesters had come
prepared for violence, wearing padding and helmets in anticipation of clashes
with police, and, in some cases, porting rocks.
The confrontation was not the weeks only anti-Haider
protest. On Dec. 15, Romes Jewish community held a rally in the historic
ghetto, and that evening a torchlight parade made its way through city streets.
Shopkeepers along the Via Nazionale turned off their lights Dec. 16 to protest
Haiders arrival, so during one of the busiest shopping evenings of the
year the citys commercial center was briefly plunged into virtual
darkness.
While the appointment for a delegation from Carinthia to present
the Christmas tree was made three years ago under another governor, the
decision to go ahead with the event -- which featured a speech by Haider in St.
Peters Square praising social justice -- drew wide criticism.
Vatican officials argued the pope could not cancel an invitation
already extended. Italian commentators pointed out, however, that the Vatican
does pull out of commitments it regards as inopportune, most
recently a plan for the pope to visit the Italian parliament.
In fact, this was not Haiders first encounter with John
Paul. The two men met in a private audience in 1993, a meeting engineered by
conservative Austrian Bishop Kurt Krenn of Sankt Pölten, an ally and
friend of Haider.
The Vatican tried to play down the significance of Haiders
reception. His private audience with John Paul lasted just five minutes, with
the pope limiting himself, according to some media reports, to saying
good morning. Haider was later given a copy of the popes
recent message for World Peace Day criticizing xenophobia and racism.
Yet during the afternoon ceremony in St. Peters Square, the
Carinthian delegation was welcomed by Cardinal Edmund Szoka, an American
prelate who serves as head administrator for the Vatican city-state. Szoka,
former archbishop of Detroit, said the group was worthily
represented by Haider. Pictures of Haider with the pope appeared in
newspapers and television reports the next day.
Haider himself did little to reduce tension, calling Italys
immigration policies soft and its political leaders
weak during his visit. He belittled shopkeepers who turned off
their lights in protest, suggesting that perhaps they wanted to save on
electric bills.
The aftermath of the rioting was in itself somewhat surreal.
Cleaning crews worked late into Saturday night to have the Via della
Conciliazione ready for Sundays Jubilee of the Spectacle, a
Vatican-sponsored celebration of the performing arts. Jugglers, brass bands and
mimes performed in the street in which just hours before police had fought
pitched battles with protesters.
The e-mail address for John L. Allen Jr. is
jallen@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, January 5,
2001
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