Rome, JUNE 8, SPA -- A major security operation was being put in place inRome ahead of the arrival later Friday of US President George W Bush,with two anti-US demonstrations planned for Saturday afternoon in theItalian capital high on the police's list of concerns, REPORTED DPA. Up to 10,000 Italian law enforcement agents as well as 150 USsecurity officials will protect the president during his 36-hourvisit to Italy - his first in three years - daily La Repubblicareported. Bush's Air Force One plane was to arrive from Poland and land inRome's main Fiumicino airport around 10 pm (2000 GMT) Friday anddepart on Sunday morning from the same airport. The president's Saturday agenda includes meetings with ItalyPresident Giorgio Napolitano, Pope Benedict XVI and Prime MinisterRomano Prodi. A planned lunchtime visit to the historic neighbourhood ofTrastevere was cancelled at the 11th hour due to "logistic concerns",a White House spokesperson said Friday. The Italian Interior Ministry had tried to dissuade the presidentfrom going to Trastevere as its cobbled alleyways are too narrow toaccommodate limousines - meaning Bush would have had to travel partof the journey on foot. A scheduled meeting in Trastevere with officials from theCommunity of Sant Egidio, a Christian group that acts as a mediatorin international peace negotiations, was now expected to take placein Villa Taverna, the residence of the US ambassador to Italy,officials said. While in Rome, Bush was also expected to have a brief eveningmeeting with opposition leader and former premier Silvio Berlusconi,a like-minded conservative who often described the US president as"my friend George." The man in charge of security in Rome, Prefect Achille Serra,played down concerns Friday but warned that neither protest marchwould be allowed to progress if masked or armed people were spottedamong its participants. An estimated 200,000 left-wingers, pacifists and anti-globalisation activists planned to take part in the demos, whichpolice fear might be infiltrated by violent Black Block radicals thatbrought havoc to similar demonstrations in Germany earlier this week.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/456985