Carlo Giuliani

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Carlo Giuliani, a 23-year-old Italian activist and anarchist, died during the demonstrations against the Group of Eight summit that was held in Genoa from July 19 to July 21, 2001.

Giuliani was killed on July 20, during a clash between protestors and Italian Carabinieri (military police). The police were in a jeep and were engaged in a conflict with protesters; police were lobbing tear gas and firing rubber bullets, while protesters were returning the canisters as well as throwing stones. As a Carabinieri vehicle careened into a crowd of protesters, the jeep got stuck and protesters started attacking it from all sides, some wielding metal poles and wooden boards, and ultimately breaking all the windows and injuring its occupants. Carlo Giuliani, who was wearing a black ski mask, picked up a fire extinguisher and, supposedly intending to throw it at the officers inside the police jeep, was subsequently shot in the face.

Image:Giuliani-Jeep Attack.jpg

All charges against the police officer who allegedly shot him (Mario Placanica) have been dropped, the commission of inquiry concluding that the fatal bullet that struck Giuliani was deflected by a stone in mid-air. This conclusion was the subject of strong criticism, as was the decision not to charge the driver of the jeep on the basis that Giulani was already dead when ran over; medics tending to Giulani after he was run over testified that his heart was still beatingTemplate:Ref. Had it been concluded that Placanica shot Giuliani in self-defense, a trial would have been necessary, but the conclusion that the bullet was not fired directly at Giuliani removed the need for any trial.

Image:Giuliani-Fire Extinguisher.jpg

A number of questions about Giuliani's death remain unanswered, particularly after Placanica told the media in 2003 that "I've been used to cover up the responsibility of others." After making this statement, Placanica was involved in a "suspicious" car accident, days after allegedly observing someone tampering with his carTemplate:Ref. Placanica was also allegedly kept in seclusion following the incident, and his parents were not allowed to visit him in the hospitalTemplate:Ref.

The plaza where he was shot, Piazza Alimonda, was unofficially renamed "Piazza Carlo Giuliani" by activists, who erected a memorial there for mementos, photographs, writings and flowers. This memorial has since been burned twice by unknown vandals. Another plaza, in Bern, Switzerland, has also been named "Carlo-Giuliani Platz" in memoriam; the renaming took place during a memorial art exhibition called The Geometries of Memory.

Although countless people, demonstrators included, have been killed and continue to be killed by police around the world, Carlo Giuliani is often held up as a martyr for what is commonly called the Anti-Globalization Movement.

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