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Riot police fire tear gas at demonstrators in the centre of Genoa this afternoon.
Photo:REUTERS |
World leaders and activists alike have started to draw lessons from events in Genoa as a second day of protests disrupted a Group of Eight summit marked by a transatlantic split on the environment and the death of a young protester shot by police on Friday.
Canadian Prime Minister Minister Jean Chretien, host of the next summit, said he planned to slim down the 2002 meeting, which Canadian officials say may be held in a Rocky Mountains resort which would be easier to police.
There was criticism of the G8 from across the world. The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, criticised Friday's killing of the protester, and called on Western leaders to heed anti-capitalist demonstrators. He said the answer to protests should not be police and death and that protesters had to be listened to.
French sports minister Marie-George Buffet appealed for an end to summits such as that in Genoa. Alluding to the railings that fence off part of the Italian port of Genoa the minister told RTL radio: "We can not have such a trench between political leaders and fellow citizens whether in France or elsewhere. I want to say: stop, stop, and let state leaders and demonstrators sit down and hold discussions," said Buffet.
Authorities said 70 people were injured in the day's clashes, down from 184 on Friday during rioting that left parts of Genoa littered with broken glass and burned out cars.
Several dozen people were detained compared to 67 on Friday.
With the streets slightly quieter, the spotlight turned back to the deliberations of the leaders, where splits emerged between U.S. President George W. Bush and his European partners over the Kyoto accord on global warming.
Bush pulled out of the Kyoto pact in March, saying its provisions for cutting greenhouse gas emissions would damage the U.S. economy.
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Crowds clashed with police who used tear gas
Photo:REUTERS |
Police and protesters clashed earlier in the day with police firing tear gas into crowds of protesters participating in a huge rally close to the centre of Genoa.
The violence came in the wake of yesterday’s police killing of Carlo Giuliani, a 23-year-old protester who was shot twice then run-over by a police jeep.
Clashes broke out when an estimated 2,000 demonstrators broke away from the march and threw petrol bombs and rocks at riot police, who responded with tear gas. Clouds of smoke and gas hung over the seafront as anti-riot reinforcements rushed to the scene.
The trouble erupted when riot police diverted the marchers from a planned route along the seafront, which would have brought them close to the summit venue, and forced them to take a narrower side street.
The majority of the protesters followed the new route, escorted by stewards, but a smaller group of a few hundred radicals reacted angrily.
They ripped up paving stones, set fire to rubbish bins, smashed windows and ransacked shops and businesses seeking missiles to hurl at police.
Protest organisers told the news agency ANSA that more than 200,000 demonstrators had joined the march. Other estimates put the crowd at over 100,000.
The head of the protest briefly came to a halt in the Corso Torino leading away from the sea-front and its non-violent organisers tried to keep order.
Earlier, riot police fired tear gas at the head of the march, causing protesters to chant "Assassins, assassins!"
The main body of marchers proceeded peacefully up a nearby street which was part of the authorised route.
There were no major incidents at the start of the march, although the mood was less festive than on Thursday when immigrants led a colourful demonstration through the ancient port city.
Following Friday's violence, at least two of the hundreds of groups that had planned to march, including supporters of the Drop the Debt initiative, decided to withdraw from Saturday's demonstration. Oxfam and Christian Aid were among the organisations that withdrew from the main march.
The main cortege of today’s march comprised organisations ranging from communist parties in Greece and Portugal to autonomy groups from the Basque country and Sardinia.
Meanwhile, rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof condemned the anti-capitalist violence saying it distracted attention from their four-year campaign to wipe out debts for the world's poorest nations.
Italian prosecutors announced they had opened an investigation into the paramilitary policeman involved in Friday’s fatal shooting shot while apparently attacking a Carabinieri jeep with other protesters.
The proceedings will determine whether murder or manslaughter charges should be brought, or whether the officer was acting in self-defence.