‘ICE OUT’ Rally Planned As Italy Moves To Calm Fears Over Its Olympics Role | EUROtoday

ROME, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Italy has detailed a sweeping safety plan for the Winter Olympics, stressing that it’s going to hold command of all operations after information emerged that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement workers could be helping the U.S. delegation.

The Games can be some of the complicated safety operations Italy has needed to handle, with the occasion break up between two principal hubs, Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, with extra occasions held elsewhere throughout the north.

About 3,500 athletes will participate within the occasion, which runs from February 6 to February 22, with the federal government anticipating some 2 million guests, together with 60,000 for the opening ceremony in Milan’s San Siro stadium.

The U.S. delegation can be led by U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

SIX THOUSAND LAW-ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi stated the safety operation blends area deployments, intelligence-led prevention and, for the primary time at a significant occasion in Italy, a 24-hour cybersecurity management room.

About 6,000 regulation enforcement officers will guard a number of Olympic websites, supported by no-fly and restricted-access areas.

Competing nations typically deliver their very own safety personnel. In that vein, the U.S. State Department stated on Tuesday that a number of federal businesses, together with ICE, would assist defend the visiting Americans, as they’ve at previous Olympics.

ICE and Border Patrol brokers have drawn heavy criticism within the United States over their enforcement of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, with photos of their actions stunning many in Italy, historically an in depth U.S. ally.

In a press release, the inside ministry stated ICE staffers would solely work in U.S. diplomatic workplaces such because the Milan consulate, and “not on the ground”.

It added, “All security operations on Italian territory remain, as always, under the exclusive responsibility and direction of the Italian authorities.”

ICE can be current by way of its Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) division, however its function “will be strictly advisory and intelligence-based, with no patrolling or enforcement involvement,” Tilman J. Fertitta, the U.S. ambassador to Italy, wrote on X.

“At the Olympics, HIS criminal investigators will contribute their expertise by providing intelligence on transnational criminal threats, with a focus on cybercrimes and national security threats.”

‘ICE OUT’ RALLIES LOOM

The assurances haven’t quelled criticism.

The hard-left USB union has referred to as an “ICE OUT” rally in central Milan on February 6, coinciding with the Games opening ceremony, whereas opposition events and left-wing teams plan a protest this Saturday.

Emanuele Ingria, a human assets employee from Milan, instructed Reuters he was “very worried” by the prospect of ICE brokers working in Italy.

“I don’t think that’s what we need today,” he added. “Especially considering what’s happening there (in the United States) … It’s truly a guerrilla force, I don’t like it.”

Under the Olympics deployment plan, greater than 3,000 common law enforcement officials, some 2,000 Carabinieri navy police and greater than 800 Guardia di Finanza tax police can be assigned to venues, with Milan internet hosting the biggest contingent.

The plan additionally contains drone surveillance, robotic inspection programs for hazardous or inaccessible areas, and a cybersecurity command centre in Milan tasked with monitoring each Olympic networks and strategic transport infrastructure that confronted disruption forward of the Paris 2024 Games.

Authorities will activate a number of “red zones” from February 6 to 22, barring entry to people with public-order convictions in an effort to forestall clashes.

(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni; extra reporting in Milan by Antonio Denti and Matteo Negri and in Rome by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Crispian Balmer, Christian Radnedge and Clarence Fernandez)