Italian police shooting to kill 

print.indymedia.org special edition 20jul01

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Adapted from IMC Italy

GENOA, ITALY--On Friday, 20 July, an Italian police officer shot a protester in the head at point blank range with a revolver.

According to Radio EMC Italia, protesters had been chasing a police jeep down a street. When the jeep stopped, protesters caught up and began "attacking" it, one eye-witness has reported. The witness saw no fire arms or other deadly weapons in the hands of the protesters.

The police officer driving the jeep leaned out his door and fired "three or four shots" at Carlo Guliani, age 23, of Genoa, who immediately fell to the ground. A one-foot stream of blood came out of his head and began puddling on the ground.

The police officer then backed the jeep over his body, shifted gears, and drove over it a second time before leaving the scene.

According to the same eye witness, other protesters immediately surged forward to check the body. The first to arrive checked the pulse and yelled for a medic, and then was hit in the head with a tear gas canister fired by the police. He retreated, and the police surged forward and separated the body from the protesters.

Protesters are expecting the police to justify this brutal murder as "self-defense." An eye-witness to the shooting is already countering this claim, saying that the officer was safe in his jeep and could have driven away at any time.

Additionally, this incident took place outside the special security zone set up by Italian law enforcement. The G8 summit is taking place inside the Red Zone, and non-attendees are not allowed there. Around this is the Yellow Zone, where only city residents are allowed. This murder occured even further out than that, in the Green Zone, where people are supposedly allowed to protest.

The Independent Media Center in Italy has reported that another protester has been killed by police as well and that many others have been wounded

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As leaders from the major industrialized countries meet for the Group of Eight ("G8") summit in Genoa, Italy, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to voice their dissatisfaction with the status quo.

The G8 is made up of the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Canada, and Russia. These countries consume the majority of the world's natural resources and use their strong militaries to keep the rest of the world under their control, in what is essentially a colonial arrangement. Corporations, in turn, control the G8 governments, and represent a tiny (less than 1%), but very wealthy segment of the world's population.

Understandably, this lopsided state of affairs has awakened the anger of millions of people worldwide, and thousands descended on Genoa this week to demand justice.

Italian authorities had prepared for the summit by emptying all nearby hospitals, jails and mortuaries, and ordering 300 body bags. They also closed down the airport and railway station, and suspended most civil rights, including freedom of movement. So much for "democracy" while the "leaders of the Free World" are meeting.