ROME (AFP) ??” Amid expectations of mass anti-war demonstrations.

ROME (AFP) ??” Amid expectations of mass anti-war demonstrations, Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said that he was worried about possible violence during US President George W Bush's imminent visit and called forward Italians to give him a statesman's welcome.

"I'm worried... about possible violence, this absurd violence which we have seen too ofttimes in the past," Berlusconi told reporters in Rome as Bush was en course to the Italian capital. The US president was to be paid to arrive in the early hours of Friday morning.

"The information that we have concerning tomorrow's demonstrations does not leave us unperturbed," he said, without giving details.

Mass anti-war attests are planned for Rome Friday during the visit of the US president, who will take part in the 60th anniversary commemoration of the liberation of Rome by the agency of Allied forces. He will also have an audience with pontiff John Paul ...