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NOBEL

Nobel summit moved to Rome after visa row

A summit of Nobel peace laureates scheduled to be held in Cape Town has been moved to Rome after the South African government failed to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama, organizers said on Sunday.

Nobel summit moved to Rome after visa row
Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Photo: Lobsang Wangyal/AFP

The gathering will now take place in the Italian city from December 12th-14th, the summit's secretariat said in a statement.

The event was "suspended" in September "after the South African government failed to issue a visa for His Holiness the Dalai Lama who had hoped to attend the world peace summit in Cape Town," it said.

The South African government however has denied refusing entry to Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, saying instead that he withdrew his application.

It marks the third time the government has dragged its feet on a visa for the bespectacled monk as the country builds closer economic ties with China.

The event would have been the first-ever summit of Nobel peace laureates in Africa.

Rome is where the summit was originally conceived and the city hosted the first eight of the laureates' get-togethers.

Previous summits have been held in Paris, Berlin, Hiroshima, Chicago and Warsaw.

Next month's summit will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the end of apartheid in South Africa and the legacy of the late Nelson Mandela – also a Nobel peace prize winner.

South Africa's retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu will lead the official opening ceremony of the Rome summit. Commenting on the visa row last month, Tutu said he was "ashamed to call this lickspittle bunch my government".

The Dalai Lama, branded a terrorist by Beijing, fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and has lived in exile ever since.

China accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to split Tibet from the rest of China and of fomenting unrest in the region.

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PROTESTS

Thousands protest in Rome against fascist groups after green pass riots

An estimated 200,000 people descended on Rome on Saturday to call for a ban on fascist-inspired groups, after protests over Italy's health pass system last weekend degenerated into riots.

A general view shows people attending an anti-fascist rally called by Italian Labour unions CGIL, CISL and UIL at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome
People attend an anti-fascist rally called by Italian Labour unions CGIL, CISL and UIL at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome on October 16th, 2021. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Carrying placards reading “Fascism: Never Again”, the protesters in Piazza San Giovanni — a square historically associated with the left — called for a ban on openly neofascist group Forza Nuova (FN).

FN leaders were among those arrested after the Rome headquarters of the CGIL trade union — Italy’s oldest — was stormed on October 9th during clashes outside parliament and in the historic centre.

Analysis: What’s behind Italy’s anti-vax protests and neo-fascist violence?

A man holds a placard reading "yes to the vaccine" during an anti-fascist rally at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome

A man holds a placard reading “yes to the vaccine” during an anti-fascist rally at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome on October 16th, 2021. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

“This is not just a retort to fascist ‘squadrismo’,” CGIL secretary general Maurizio Landini said, using a word used to refer to the fascist militias that began operating after World War I.

IN PICTURES: Demonstrators and far right clash with police in Rome after green pass protest

“This piazza also represents all those in Italy who want to change the country, who want to close the door on political violence,” he told the gathered crowds.

Last weekend’s riots followed a peaceful protest against the extension to all workplaces of Italy’s “Green Pass”, which shows proof of vaccination, a negative Covid-19 test or recent recovery from the virus.

The violence has focused attention on the country’s fascist legacy.

Saturday’s demonstration was attended by some 200,000 people, said organisers, with 800 coaches and 10 trains laid on to bring people to the capital for the event.

Workers from the Italian Labour Union (UIL) react during an anti-fascist rally in Rome

Workers from the Italian Labour Union (UIL) react during an anti-fascist rally in Rome on October 16th, 2021. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

It coincided with the 78th anniversary of the Nazi raid on the Jewish Ghetto in Rome.

Over 1,000 Jews, including 200 children, were rounded up at dawn on October 16th, 1943, and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

General Secretary of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Maurizio Landini (C) delivers a speech as Italian priest Don Luigi Ciotti (R) looks on

General Secretary of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Maurizio Landini (C) delivers a speech as Italian priest Don Luigi Ciotti (R) looks on during the anti-fascist rally in Rome. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

“Neofascist groups have to be shut down, right now. But that has to be just the start: we need an antifascist education in schools,” university student Margherita Sardi told AFP.

READ ALSO: Covid green pass: How are people in Italy reacting to the new law for workplaces?

The centre-left Democratic Party, which has led the calls for FN to be banned, said its petition calling on parliament to do so had gathered 100,000 signatures.

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