Thousands of anti-globalisation protesters opposed to the government's handling of riots at last weekend’s Group of Eight summit in Genoa marched in Rome today, on the eve of the funeral of a demonstrator killed during the unrest.
The umbrella anti-globalisation movement, the Genoa Social Forum (GSF), spearheaded the march of self-professed peaceful activists which set off from near Rome's main train station.
Riot police wearing helmets and batons preceded the demonstrators who carried banners, one them reading "Assassins".
The environmental organisation Legambiente, political parties like the Refounded Communists and the Greens, other grass-roots organisations and the largest opposition party, the Left-wing Democrats, joined the march.
The Left-wing Democrats, unlike the other groups, had been conspicuously absent from a peaceful demonstration that drew some 150,000 people to the streets of Genoa on Saturday.
Italy’s Interior Minister Mr Claudio Scajola gave the government's official account of the Genoa incidents late yesterday. As he did, hundreds of demonstrators rallying outside the parliament vented their fury over the shooting death of the protester in riots near the G8 venue of the July 20-22 summit.
Mr Scajola told parliament the police officer who was charged with murder after the death on Friday of 23-year-old Mr Carlo Giuliani "fired two shots without aiming".
He said all scheduled G8 events took place "in fully secure conditions and were appreciated by all summit leaders", adding "if we had not taken drastic steps, the damage would have been worse".
Mr Giuliani’s parents have asked for a "simple funeral ceremony, without flags, symbols or flowers, as Carlo would have liked it".
But in memory of their son they opened a bank account to collect funds "for symbolic adoptions and scholarships for young people in poor countries and initiatives by nongovernmental organisations defending the weak".
GSF spokesman Mr Vittorio Agnoletto said his movement would attend the funeral, which starts at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Wednesday.
Opposition leaders have called for Mr Scajola's resignation following Mr Giuliani's death and the massive damage to property, with more than 80 cars torched or damaged and more than 80 stores, banks and post offices smashed.
According to an official count, 94 police, 121 demonstrators and 16 journalists were wounded in the violence. In Alessandria, north of Genoa, police also detained 13 Spanish nationals, in connection with the violence, the Spanish embassy in Rome said.
AFP