Funeral in Italy for Nazi war criminal called off amid protests

ALBANO LAZIALE, Italy -- The funeral of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke was called off by his lawyer after police prevented friends and family members from attending.

Priebke's lawyer, Paolo Giachini, told The Associated Press that the funeral did not take place Tuesday as planned "because authorities did not allow people to enter who wanted to come in."

Hundreds of protesters shouting "murderer" and "executioner" have been protesting outside grounds belonging to a Catholic group that agreed to hold the funeral after Rome's vicar banned it from the city's Catholic churches.

Giachini says the people who wanted to enter were friends and family.

He says he is giving up his mandate as Priebke's lawyer to protest what he called "indignities." The casket remained inside.

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  A woman holding a flag of Italian Communist Refoundation Party thumps her fist on the hearse carrying the coffin of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke as it arrives at the Society of St. Pius X, a schismatic Catholic group, in Albano Laziale, on the outskirts of Rome on Oct. 15, 2013. (AP / Lapresse)

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  Former Nazi officer Erich Priebke, left, arrives in a Rome Military Court followed by a Carabinieri Italian paramilitary police officer, for a hearing in his trial, July 19, 1996. (AP / Plinio Lepri)