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CNN Saturday Morning News

Threat of Violence Looms at G8 Summit

Aired July 21, 2001 - 07:05   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.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: As world leaders begin a second day of meetings at the G8 summit there looms the threat of yet more violence. Protests erupted in the streets of Genoa, Italy, yesterday, and an investigation is now under way into the fatal police shooting of one of the demonstrators.

CNN's senior White House correspondent, John King, is covering the summit, whose discussions at least somewhat right now are overshadowed by the demonstrations.

Good morning, John.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Brian.

That's right, these demonstrations, often violent, reflecting the bitter debate over global trade. The leaders late last night gathered here in Genoa did issue a statement voicing regret for the death of one of those demonstrators, and the leaders condemning violence of all form.

But back to business this morning, the leaders saying it is imperative in their view that they get back to work, ignoring the calls from some protest organizers that this summit be suspended or called off altogether.

Now, in their discussions, the leaders talking about another round of global trade talks. That puts them directly at odds with most of the demonstrators in the street who viewed global trade as exploitation of poor low-wage workers in many developing countries. The leaders have a very different view. They say with the global economy slowing, it is imperative that there be even more global trade.

The leaders, though, also say the protests somewhat ironic, because they believe, the leaders do, that they are addressing many of the issues being voiced out on the streets outside the tough security perimeter here, and the leaders committing more money to the international fight against AIDS, promising to do more to help poor developing nations relieve the debt that they owe to international bodies.

So the leaders saying there's a disconnect between their discussions inside and the protests outside. Still, as those discussions continue, a great sense of anxiety again and more security. We see armored personnel carriers carrying police, strolling around the security perimeter, a very large security perimeter, set up to keep the leaders away from the protesters outside as those preparations going on today. Senior U.S. security sources here saying the big question is whether yesterday's fatality in the streets sobers the demonstrators, or whether it incites them to even more violence today -- Brian.

NELSON: John, do the leaders get the sense that they're just not getting the demonstrators' message? I mean, this has been going on for some time. We had Seattle, we had Quebec City, now we have Genoa, Italy. These demonstrations against globalization and world trade are becoming almost a fact of modern life.

KING: A fact of modern life. You get a very different view when you ask the different leaders. The French president, Jacques Chirac, saying if as many as 100,000 people show up to protest something, they must have a point that the leaders to listen to, whether they agree or disagree, a different approach from the Bush administration. This is President Bush's first time around at these international meetings, if you will, and his team is saying, Hey, these leaders are democratically elected. They believe many of these protesters don't really represent the people they claim to represent.

And there is an irony in this. As you travel from meeting to meeting, some of the protesters are the very same people we saw months ago in Quebec, just last month in Sweden.

So there is a difference among the leaders as to saying whether or not they agree with the protesters at all and whether they should at least take steps, given these episodes, to try to have some sort of a dialogue -- Brian.

NELSON: Thanks, John. CNN's John King reporting to us this morning from Genoa, Italy.

And now let's go to the streets of Genoa, Italy, and CNN's Alessio Vinci reporting on the protests and the threat of yet more violence again today.

Alessio, good morning.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Brian.

Yes, first of all, the Italian prosecutors are investigating a shooting incident that killed a young protester yesterday, and in order to begin that investigation according to Italian law, they had to charge the policeman, the member of the Italian military corps, with homicide. This is not a murder charge, it is just a legal way, if you want, to begin that investigation and establish the intent behind that shooting incident.

Meanwhile, in the streets of Genoa, a new process has already began. We understand from our crew on the ground there that there are about 50,000 people demonstrating at this time. Some of them, you can see them behind us here, have not joined the march yet. They will probably try in a few moments to come.

We have noticed that some of those people here are wearing a black ribbon in sense of respect, mourning for the dead demonstrator. However, also most of them are telling us that they condemn the violence that sparked -- that -- the clashes yesterday in the streets of Genoa, and they blame that violence mainly on the anarchists. But they also blame that violence on the police for failing to, if you want, contain those anarchists and to prevent them coming in the streets of Genoa and seek confrontation with the police.

Meanwhile, the demonstrators here are telling us that today they want to protest peacefully. They will not attempt to reach into that security zone, into that red zone, if you want, that was completely separated from the demonstrations inside which there is -- the summit is taking place -- Brian.

NELSON: Alessio, are there any details as to how that shooting of the demonstrator took place? Was there any threat of violence against that officer? Was there a provocation that he was defending himself? Anything you know about that?

VINCI: Well, yes, first of all, the Italian police here are saying that the shooting incident happened in self-defense, and there is also some photographic documents that suggest that the vehicle from which the shot -- the two shots came from was surrounded by several anarchists who were breaking the windows. Those officers appear to be in great danger at that moment, and at that moment when they began -- shot was fired.

So certainly those officers were under threat. We understand from eyewitnesses as well that a second Jeep was also involved in that. The first Jeep managed to go away, the second one was surrounded by those violent anarchists, and therefore it appears that the young officer who shot against the demonstrator was in self- defense.

NELSON: All right, thank you, CNN's Alessio Vinci reporting to us from Genoa, Italy, this morning.

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