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CNN Live Saturday
G-8 Summit in Genoa Overshadowed by Violence in the Streets
Aired July 21, 2001 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with a closer look at the group of eight summit in Genoa, Italy today. Leaders from the G-8 met for a second day today to discuss global economic issues, but their visit to the Italian port city has also attracted thousands of protesters, and many are clashing with Italian police. CNN's Kelly Wallace is there and joins us with more -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Donna, for the second day in a row there were clashes between protesters and police in the streets of Genoa. The clashes not as large and not as severe as Friday, but still some violence here. At the same time, the leaders of the G-8 countries continued working, although they seemed to be expressing some frustration that the work they were doing inside was being overshadowed by what was happening outside.
Now, the day got off to a rather peaceful start as tens of thousands of protesters demonstrating very peacefully, trying to draw a distinction between what happened Friday and the death of a demonstrator. These protesters saying the majority of people who came to Genoa came mere to protest peacefully against global trade.
Well then, late Saturday afternoon, about 2,000 protesters tried to storm the security perimeter, which is basically restricting access to the security sites here. Police responded firing hundreds of canisters of tear gas. About -- or least 93 people were wounded Saturday, including eight police, and police arrested at least 36 demonstrators.
Now, the leaders as a group on this day came out and condemned the violence of a small minority. And then, the leaders started speaking out one by one. President Bush called the death of a demonstrator Friday "a tragic loss," but he also condemned the efforts of those who were trying to derail the summit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very concerned about the violence. It's a tragic loss of life that occurred. It's also tragic that many police officers have been hurt, men and women who are trying to protect democratically elected leaders and our necessary right to be able to discuss our common problems.
I -- in Washington, D.C., Mr. President, I said as clearly as I could and I'll say it here again: those who claim to represent the voices of the poor aren't doing so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And the leaders did discuss a wide range of issues, including President Bush's opposition to the international treaty known as the Kyoto Protocol, which seeks to combat global warming. Many Europeans are very supportive of this treaty, the president telling Europeans that his administration is trying to come up with alternatives, and the European leaders on this day seem to downplay their differences with Mr. Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERHARD SCHROEDER, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): Both of us are thinking that it is very important that we do substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that is very important indeed. And we will obviously have to get into a very intensive dialogue about these things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Now, next year's summit will be held in Canada, and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien indicated that he was a bit concerned that, again, the work that these leaders were doing was being sort of -- the attention was more focused on what was happening outside than what these leaders were doing.
He hinted that some changes could be in store. He said he wants to make sure that the format is changed, so that the concentration is on the summit and the discusses between the leaders -- Donna.
KELLEY: From Genoa, Italy, our Kelly Wallace. Thank you.
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