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CNN Saturday Morning News
G8 Summit Proceeds as Scheduled Despite Protests
Aired July 21, 2001 - 08:11 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: Leaders of the world's wealthiest nations are meeting in Italy for day two of their summit talks, the G8 summit. And that follows a day of deadly violence and street battles in Genoa, about a mile from the meeting site itself. We get the latest on the leaders and on the demonstrators from CNN's Kelly Wallace, who is in Genoa, Italy -- good morning, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning or good afternoon from here, Brian.
The leaders of the G8 countries definitely proceeding ahead with their normal schedule. But at the same time they are certainly hoping for calm on the streets. In a statement issued late Friday night, they came out and expressed regret about the death of a demonstrator Friday. But they also condemned violence of every form.
Meantime, police are bracing for what could be another day of violent clashes. Earlier Saturday, we saw an armored tank head out as well as police vans, basically so they can patrol what has become sort of a security perimeter restricting access to the summit site, a top law enforcement source telling CNN that the big question will be whether Friday's incident incites or sobers the demonstrators.
Now, we do know that most of the violence we saw Friday is really being blamed on a group of about 5,000 anarchists and one source telling CNN that another 100 anarchists have arrived in the city of Genoa since Friday. But at the same time, apparently about several thousand others who were protesting peacefully have left out of concern and frustration with the violence on the streets.
As for the demonstrator who was killed, he was 23 years old. He was shot by an Italian police officer. The Italians believe it was an act of self-defense. Nonetheless, they are investigating and they have launched what we could consider in the United States to be a primarily homicide investigation.
Now, as for the leaders, well, they are working away at an elaborate palace tucked deep inside the security perimeter here, far, far away from the site of Friday's clashes between police and protesters. The leaders today signing a guest book for visitors to the city of Genoa. They're also trying to tackle issues such as improving education and combating hunger in the developing world as well as the issue of global warming. On that issue, U.S. President George W. Bush expected to get some tough questions from European leaders, in particular the leaders of France and Germany, over Mr. Bush's continued opposition to that international treaty to reduce global warming known as the Kyoto Protocol.
So lots of work ahead for these leaders. They are proceeding as business as usual, Brian, but again, a big focus will be on the streets, and it is just an open question just what will happen on the streets of Genoa today -- Brian.
NELSON: Kelly, there must be some substantial frustration on the part of those leaders who see their substantive discussions on world politics, on issues of some import being overshadowed by rocks and bottles and the death of a demonstrator. Is there such a thing?
WALLACE: You are absolutely right, there is definitely some frustration on the part of the leaders here. In particular, Canadian prime minister quoted as saying, Jean Cretien, just expressing some frustration that the leaders are working on issues such as combating HIV and AIDS and lifting up the developing world and that those issues are being, as you noted, overshadowed by the violence on the streets.
Some leaders also feeling that they are tackling issues that some of these peaceful protesters are concerned about, such as debt relief, human rights, lifting up the poor. But again, what we also are seeing, Brian, is a real deep philosophical divide between some of the leaders and some of the protesters.
Many of the protesters believe free trade would benefit the wealthy and hurt the poor, whereas other leaders, namely, certainly, U.S. President George W. Bush believes these protesters, by protesting against free trade they are condemning the poor to poverty, the U.S. president believing free trade is one of the best ways to lift up the poor around the world -- Brian.
NELSON: OK, thanks, Kelly. We'll be back to you later. CNN's Kelly Wallace in Genoa, Italy.
We'd like to hear your thoughts on the G8 summit this morning and the violence that has surrounded it, so we'd like you to e-mail your comments and questions to John King at wam@cnn.com and we'll join John a little later and share those e-mails. That's about an hour from now, 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.
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