From the "pink march" in Genoa

On Friday, July 20, and Saturday, July 21, an estimated 200,000 - 300,000 people were in the streets of Genoa, Italy, to express dissent against the closed meetings of the Group of 8. The 'G8' - the leaders of the world's most economically powerful countries, meets yearly to discuss general international policy direction. Demonstrators from all over Europe have converged on Genoa to present alternative visions of the way the world's population could organize to undo poverty, inequality and environmental disintegration. The Genoa Social Forum has hosted speakers and organizers from around the world, who talked at their counter-summit of alternatives to the current destructive economic policies pursued by Western governments and took to the streets to voice their opinions to the world leaders gathering there.

Demonstrations, attended by members of literally thousands of diverse European and international social justice organizations, featured a mass action of organized civil disobedience headed by the Italian Ya Basta! movement, attempting to break through the sealed off 'Red Zone' security barriers dividing the militarized town of Genoa. Italian police met the demonstrations with violence, resulting in serious injuries from both street clashes and raids on sleeping protesters (see feature below). There has been one confirmed death in Genoa of a young Genovese man, Carlo Giuliani. The man was shot by Italian police and then run over by a police vehicle. IMC-Italy has a picture sequence of Carlo Giuliani at the time of his death. There are still unconfirmed reports of another death of a woman. At least two other men received serious facial injuries from the 40mm tear gas canisters being shot at them. Debates about Black Bloc tactics and other issues raised in Genoa rage on many Indymedia newswires. Protests at the G8 meeting mark a climax of the European Summer of Resistance which has included festivals and demonstrations accross Europe in places including Goteborg, Sweden, Barcelona, Salzburg, Austria and Bonn, Germany, (see climate conference feature below), to express dissent against the current form of 'globalization' and to move towards different forms of global unity.

Background about the G8 Demonstrations: Seeking Change in Genoa | About the Demonstrations

IMC-Italy

Groups protesting the G8 summit

Genoa Social Forum

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