"I am not very afraid for myself, but I am very sad for the world" tourist says in Rome

Record ID: 906922

  • Title: "I am not very afraid for myself, but I am very sad for the world" tourist says in Rome
  • Date: 18th August 2017
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (AUGUST 18, 2017) (REUTERS) MILITARY VEHICLE PARKED AT TOP OF VIA DEL CORSO ARMED SOLDIER TOURISTS WALKING PAST MILITARY VEHICLE VARIOUS OF VIA DEL CORSO WITH MILITARY VEHICLE PARKED AT TOP OF STREET ARMED SOLDIER VARIOUS OF POLICE VEHICLE DRIVING DOWN STREET SOLDIERS ON PATROL IN VIA DEL CORSO (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALIAN TOURIST SALVATORE PICAREDU SAYING: "Safe, well no one is safe anymore, but in terms of security if there was an emergency then intervention would be quick, but there is anyway a risk." (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SPANISH TOURIST ENCARNA CAVALLERO SAYING: "Anything can happen in any place, there is always a risk but we cannot change the way we live our lives." (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMERICAN TOURIST JIM RUFFO SAYING: "I feel very safe here, security is very good, you see the army all over the town. It's very good." (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST ALICE ANDERSON FROM HAWAII SAYING: "I am not very afraid for myself, but I am very sad for the world." ROAD LEADING TO ST. PETER'S SQUARE CUPOLA OF VATICAN POLICE VEHICLE ON ROAD VARIOUS OF CROWDS OF TOURISTS NEAR VATICAN ARMED SOLDIER STANDING NEXT TO CONCRETE BOLLARD TOURISTS IN SQUARE VARIOUS OF MILITARY VEHICLE PARKED NEXT TO ROMAN RUINS COLOSSEUM TOURIST SITTING UNDER TREE IN SHADE AND QUEUEING FOR TICKETS ARMED SOLDIERS STANDING NEXT TO VEHICLES PARKED ON ROAD BUS PASSING INBETWEEN MILITARY VEHICLES
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2017 11:57
  • Keywords: terror attack tightened security tourist attractions armed soldiers
  • Location: ROME, ITALY
  • City: ROME, ITALY
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016UONQ6F
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Security forces in the Italian capital were on high alert on Friday (August 18) after a suspected Islamist militant killed 13 in Barcelona by driving a van into crowds.
    Military and police units were out on patrol in the main tourist areas in the city, which has so far been spared any of the kind of terror attacks that have hit other European cities such as Nice, London and Berlin.
    Army vehicles blocked one end of Rome's main shopping street, Via del Corso, which runs some 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) straight through the centre of the city. A small section of the street is a pedestrian island with the rest of the ten metres (32 feet) wide road accommodating two lanes of traffic. Tourists said the security presence on the streets made them feel reasonably secure but that guaranteed incolumity from a terror attack was now a thing of the past.
    Millions of tourists visit the ancient Roman colosseum and the Vatican every year. Security measures have been taken at both venues to hinder the possibility of an attack by a person driving a vehicle, with large concrete bollards blocking the entrance to the Vatican's St. Peter's square.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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