Activists around Europe pay tribute to dead G8 protester
GENOA, Italy, July 21 (AFP) -
Anti-globalization activists gathered around Europe Saturday to honor an
Italian protester shot dead at the G8 summit with minutes of silence and
marches condemning Italian police for his death.
Thousands of protesters in Norway, Sweden, Austria, Turkey and in Genoa
-- where the summit of the world's big industrial nations is being held
-- came together in ceremonies to pay tribute to 23-year-old Carlo
Giuliani, killed by police during riots in the Italian port city Friday.
In Sweden, about 400 anti-G8 protesters observed a minute of silence in
Stockholm city center, while in Oslo about 100 demonstrators marched in
silence on one of the city's main squares near the foreign ministry.
"We can't accept that a human being can be shot by police in a
democratic country," Nina Drange of the Attac-Norway group said, while
stressing that her organization did not engage in violent protests.
Several hundred people demonstrated in Istanbul, in protests staged
separately by a Socialist party and a trade union.
Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP) chairman Uruk Uras described the
summit leaders -- from Germany, France, Japan, Canada, the United
States, Russia, Italy and Britain -- as "G8 vampires."
The Italian consulate in the Austrian city of Salzburg was covered with
graffiti condemning the shooting, with slogans reading "Murderers" and
"Stamp out police violence, and a G7 monument in the French city of Lyon
was also defaced with graffiti.
"The G8 kills, G8 assassin, assassin," read the slogans on a sculpture
erected in 1996 during the G7 summit there.
Swiss anti-globalisation protesters threw fireworks at the Italian
office of tourism in Zurich early Saturday, smashing a window, police
said.
In Bonn, where the United Nations is holding talks over the Kyoto
climate protocol, about 2,000 demonstrators came together to demand
action on climate change, while also observing a minute of silence for
Giuliani.
The largest demonstration was in Genoa itself, where tens of thousands
assembled in late afternoon for a concert after observing a minute of
silence.
The demise of the Italian has triggered fresh questions about the future
of international summits, with leaders wondering whether to scale back
such gatherings in the light of the massive security and disruption
caused each time the meetings take place.
It has also thrown a chill across the anti-globalisation movement, whose
members largely prefer to put their complaints about the running of the
world economy peacefully.
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