STOP MAI |
Authorised
by the STOP-MAI Campaign Coalition (WA) Affiliated
with the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network
(AFTInet) |
| STOP MAI |
Authorised
by the STOP-MAI Campaign Coalition (WA) Affiliated
with the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network
(AFTInet) |
Police murder of G8 Genoa protestor is indefensible
Independent eyewitness reports and photographs have established beyond doubt that Carlo Giuliani, 23, was shot in the head at point-blank range by an Italian police officer who then reversed his jeep over the young man's body, then drove forward over the body for a second time. The murder was committed in a part of Genoa at a considerable distance from official G8 summit security zones.
An estimated 150,000 citizens from many countries have exercised a legal right to visit Genoa and demonstrate worldwide concern about abuse of democratic power by the governments of the wealthiest nations.
The Group of Eight (G8) comprises the governments of the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Canada and Russia. These countries consume most of the world's natural resources and use military force to keep the rest of the world under their control.
Protesters from those countries and many others argue that their governments have fallen under the de facto control of wealthy multinational corporations which represent less than one per cent of the world's population.
The arming and empowerment of civilian police to harass, beat and kill peaceful demonstrators is an ugly and indefensible development in the battle by 'free world' governments to protect trade and investment interests against criticism. It also provides proof that these powers are fearful of the mass public intervention into non-accountable business dealings of supposedly democratic governments.
The StopMAI Coalition of Western Australia joins with hundreds of thousands of aware Australians in mourning victims of official killings in Gothenburg and Genoa. We demand that the authors of the crimes be brought to justice.
ends #43
(Attached: Independent Media Centre account of the Genoa tragedy)