A dozen or so pacifists chained themselves to a fence outside Rome's central Regina Coeli prison on Monday to protest against this week's visit by United States President George W. Bush.
The demonstration was staged at the penitentiary because the jail has been cleared of some 230 inmates to make room for any protestors who may be arrested during Bush's visit.
Monday's protestors all wore mock prison uniforms and carried a banner which said: ''Over one million civilian casualties in Iraq''.
According to a spokesman for the demonstrators, the interior ministry's decision to free up space at Regina Coeli ''is grotesque and ridiculous. Never before have cell blocks been emptied in Rome to make room for possible detainees''.
The demonstration at the prison was a prelude to a protest march set for Wednesday, the day Bush arrives, which organizers hope will be peaceful.
''We are trying to organize a peaceful demonstration, while others are seeking to create tension around the march. In fact, some people are saying that room is being made at Umberto I hospital for those who will be injured in clashes with police,'' the pacifist spokesman added.
Bush arrives Wednesday evening from Berlin and on Thursday will meet first with Premier Silvio Berlusconi and later with President Giorgio Napolitano.
Friday will see the American president visit Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican where the pontiff will receive him not in the traditional papal study, but in the medieval St John's Tower inside the Vatican gardens, where they are expected to then stroll, weather permitting.
A Vatican spokesman said the change in venue was made to express the pope's gratitude for the hospitality shown to him during his recent visit to the White House.
A special security plan for Bush's visit will go into effect starting Tuesday evening and will last until he leaves Friday afternoon.
Security will be beefed up in and around Villa Taverna, the American ambassador residence where the president will stay, the American embassy on Via Veneto and the itinerary the president's entourage will follow while travelling in the capital.
There will be no commercial flights over Rome while Bush is in the capital.
Bush, who is in the final year of his presidency, arrives in Europe Monday for a one-week stay during which he will attend the annual US-European Union summit, in Slovenia, and then make a small farewell tour of the leading capitals.
The tour begins in Berlin and after Rome Bush will travel to Paris and then London.
