LA STAMPA (Italy)
ROME - Over the past 48 hours, the Italian capital has faced the threat of two rising tides. One is of the human variety as Wednesday's anti-austerity demonstrations overflowed into a series of clashes between protesters and police. La Stampa reports that 50 people were arrested and 18 injured. Mayor Giorgio Alemanno went from channel to channel to let everybody know that the river was “under control”. But was it really?
Beyond the police, the tide of popular anger risked running into an actual flood, as Rome's Tiber River was put on maximum alert, as water levels rose to 13.5 meters.
The Fatebenefratelli hospital, located on the Tiburina Island, was closed and patients were evacuated from the first floor. Several boats ran adrift but unlike the floods in December 2008, no boats have yet gotten stuck in the arches of bridges.
