Haider's Vatican visit sparks protests

Haider makes his way past the controversial tree

Controversial Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider has had a private audience with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.

Mr Haider - who has become embroiled in a row with the Italian Government - will later present the Vatican with a Christmas tree from his home province of Carinthia, of which he is governor.

Students say the visit is an offence to Rome

The visit has provoked protests by politicians, the Jewish community, wartime deportees and students.

Demonstrators marching in Rome on Saturday said they would ask the Pope to replace the Carinthian conifer with an "anti-Fascist" Christmas tree.

Jewish shopkeepers have said they will switch their lights off as the Christmas tree's lights are switched on.

'Provocation'

Mr Haider's audience with the Pope was over in three minutes.

The Pope gave him a copy of his New Year message warning against nationalism, racism and xenophobia, but Mr Haider had no time to deliver his pre-prepared remarks.

Wojtyla (the Pope), your tree drips with blood

Protesters' banner

The Vatican accepted the offer of a Christmas tree in 1997, when Mr Haider was not governor of Carinthia.

The Pope will not be present at the official handing over.

Mr Haider resigned as head of Austria's far-right Freedom Party after the party's success at last year's general election earned it a place in the governing coalition.

He is notorious for making remarks apparently sympathetic to the policies of Nazi Germany, and for xenophobic views on immigration.

Immigrants must always be treated with the respect due to the dignity of every human person

Papal message

Protesters in Rome on Saturday said his visit was "a provocation and an offence to the city's history".

Far-right militants are due to organise a sit-in in support of Mr Haider later on Saturday.

The Vatican has defended the meeting on the grounds that the Holy See is open to all.

The Vatican's number two, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, told the La Repubblica newspaper: "We must make a difference between an error and one who errs."

Vatican uneasy

BBC Rome correspondent David Willey says the Vatican is clearly embarrassed at the political row that has broken out over the Haider visit.

However, the officials insist that timing of the release of the anti-xenophobia message was coincidental.

The Carinthian tree is under police guard

The controversy over Mr Haider's visit has been sharpened by a row over remarks he made earlier this week criticising the Italian Government as "overly generous" on immigration.

Prime Minister Giuliano Amato said on Friday he would write to Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel to express his government's displeasure at Mr Haider's criticism of President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Italy's policies on immigration.

"The government cannot but judge extremely severely such criticisms, which are even more unacceptable coming from someone who holds an official position in another European Union country," Mr Amato said.

Mr Haider had said that Austria should reconsider its membership of the EU's open-borders Schengen agreement because of Italy's stance.

The Italian president responded by explaining that Italy had always been a country of migration and was a humane society.

Then, in an interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper, the Austrian populist said President Ciampi's response was typical of a left-wing politician.