Irish anti-war activist singled out by the Italian police

RECENTLY while making my way to the European Social Forum (ESF) in Florence, Italy, where a million people (according to the organisers) peacefully marched against the imminent war against Iraq, I experienced at first hand the lack of democracy and respect for human rights within the EU.

The Schengan Agreement is supposed to guarantee the free movement of all EU citizens within EU states.

However, the bus I was travelling in, which was part of the mobilisation for the ESF from Spain, was stopped at the French-Italian border.