TAORMINA, Italy, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Residents of the Sicilian town of Taormina are bracing not only for an imminent summit of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations, but also for the protests that will accompany it.
The 43rd gathering of the G7 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States, plus the EU -- will place here on from Friday to Saturday.
According to the police, one of protests will converge on Giardini Naxos (Naxos Gardens), a town founded by the ancient Greeks and nestling on a small scenic bay just below Taormina. The police authorities expected some 3,500 participants to join the protest.
On Facebook, 3,100 people said they are "going" and an additional 1,800 said they are "interested" in the march.
G7 leaders are doing nothing to do away with "appalling global inequalities," activists from the "No G7 Network" wrote on Facebook.
Policies of the industrialized countries as members of rich club in the world, according to the activists, are pushing ever more people into poverty, destroying social safety nets, and "waging war on migrants."
"We didn't want this demonstration," Benedetto Lembo, president of the Small Tourist Businesses Association, told Xinhua on Thursday in Giardini Naxos, a former fishing village that now depends on tourism for its livelihood.
"Of course we must respect the right to demonstrate," he added.
Lembo said police authorities have reassured residents and business owners that no violent demonstrators will be allowed into Giardini Naxos.
Back in Taormina, authorities have also ordered all shops and businesses shut down on Saturday, both in the maximum-security "Red Zone" and along the protest march route.
