Shocked by the death of an anti-capitalist protester, Group of Eight leaders resumed a summit meeting in Genoa today as tens of thousands of demonstrators began to return to the streets.
Mr Carlo Giuliani, a 23-year-old Italian, was shot dead by paramilitary police yesterday as about 30 demonstrators attacked a police van with stones and bars.
G8 leaders appealed for calm after the death, believed to be the first in nearly two years of violent anti-globalization protests at international gatherings around the world.
The leaders - from the United States, Russia, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada - were turning their attention today to world poverty and the environment, issues that top the agenda of some protest groups in Genoa.
The most intense discussion was likely to be about the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Earlier this week, G8 foreign ministers described mounting Middle East violence as alarming and called on both sides to accept outside monitors to help implement a peace plan.
The leaders reached an upbeat consensus on the world economy in their first day of talks yesterday. They interrupted their evening banquet to issue an appeal for calm after the death of Mr Giuliani, a Genoa resident and son of a union official.
"We would like to condemn most strongly any form of violence and we appeal to all who are demonstrating peacefully...through their example to isolate the troublemakers," they said.
Italian Interior Minister Mr Claudio Scajola, who described the death of the protester as "a tragic event," urged protesters not to aggravate tension and add to the burden on security forces.
Italian television said magistrates went overnight to the hospital where the Carabinieri officer who opened fire was being treated for his injuries. It said they questioned him over the incident as an inquiry got under way.
Police said 184 people were injured in all - 60 members of the security forces, 114 demonstrators and 10 journalists.
A total of 56 people were detained, they said, as security forces kept waves of protesters away from the "red zone" where the summit was held.