Sicilian tourist town in security lockdown for two-day G7 summit
TAORMINA, Italy: A Sicilian town beloved by the rich and famous is swapping sunworshippersfor snipers as the leaders of the G7 descend for a high- security meeting in the hill-top holiday destination.
Drones will fly over Taormina for the Friday to Saturday summit and the army has the site in lockdown following an attack in Britain claimed by the Islamic State ( IS) group and a mafia execution in broad daylight in Sicily on Monday.
Around 7,000 members of the security forces will patrol the coastal attraction’s cobbled streets, which welcome more than one million visitors a year.
So it is unlikely that US President Donald Trump and wife Melania will enjoy a romantic stroll here in the same relaxed manner as famous sweethearts Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor once did.
Instead, security officials have declared the delightful promenade off limits for a lack of escape routes. The town’s rich past has seen it play host to creative greats including Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway and Richard Wagner.
But US security demands for the visit have reportedly exasperated organisers, with Italian media saying Trump’s motorcade is longer than the distances it will have to cover during the summit.
“Italy is ready,” said the prime minister’s State Secretary Maria Elena Boschi this week, brushing off “Sicilian stereotypes” bandied by critics who say the preparations started late and caused chaos for 11,000 locals.
Taormina Mayor Eligio Giardina admitted he was likely the town’s ‘ most hated man’ but said he had pulled off ‘ the impossible’. — AFP