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Police in riot gear charged and fired tear gas at anti-Bush demonstrators on Saturday (June 9) after being attacked with bottles and fire crackers near Rome's Piazza Navona. Some of the demonstrators suddenly donned masks and hoods, overturned flower pots and damaged some traffic lights. Dozens of protesters, some wearing motorcycle helmets and bandanas to cover their faces, remained in the area as police closed in to contain them. Organisers of the march, some of them using loudspeakers mounted on trucks, urged the violent demonstrators to stop and later invited peaceful marchers to leave the area. At least two policeman were injured by glass and at least one marcher was reported injured in a clash with police. Police were seen taking away some of the protesters and local media reports said some were arrested for covering their faces in demonstrations, which is illegal in Italy. Restaurants and shopkeepers lowered their shutters. The incident was far from where Bush was staying at the U.S. ambassador's residence, in another quarter of the city. About 12,000 demonstrators, most of them peaceful, had staged protests in Rome against the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the expansion of a U.S. military base in Italy. Despite feared violence, there had been no reports of violence earlier.