Tag: Green G8

Germany may make an official complaint over the Italian government's decision to restrict the rights of German protesters arrested at last month's Genoa summit to enter Italy. A spokesman for the German foreign minister stated that the Italian decision contravenes EU law as a person must be convicted of a crime in order for such restrictions to placed on them. The Italian foreign ministry said that "the measures respect national and European Union laws."

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government gave in to sustained opposition pressure and agreed on 31 July to a limited parliamentary inquiry into the violence that occured during the G8 summit in Genoa. The primary focus of the inquiry will be into police brutality, although violence by the anti-globalisation protesters will also be investigated. The police have already completed internal enquiries and prosecutors in Genoa have also launched their own inquiries into the violence.

After the Genoa G8 Summit, the world's richest countries start looking for ways of furthering globalisation without risking violent demonstrations that have become the trademark of economic summits. Governments have denounced violent protests, while NGOs protested against what is perceived as an excessive use of force by riot police.

The death on Friday of a young Italian protestor shot by police has achieved what both G8 leaders and the majority of peaceful protestors feared - overshadowed the real issues at stake. The massive security measures that were put in place by the Italian authorities did not prevent violence on the one day of the summit when no official demonstrations were planned. The mass demonstration planned for Saturday is going ahead despite the death and the organisors hope that issues such as debt relief and the fight against AIDS will get the attention they deserve.

An Italian policeman was injured by a letter bomb delivered to a police post in a suburban railway station in Genoa on 16 July. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but it is believed to have been carried out by a group opposed to this week's G8 summit in Genoa. Up to 100,000 protestors are expected to travel to Genoa for the summit where they will be met by 16,000 police and soldiers hoping to prevent the kind of violence seen at last month's Gothenburg European Council.

Leaders of the G8 nations ended their summit in Japan with promises for wealth sharing and for solving problems of disease, the digital divide and education in developing countries.

During the Paris cybercrime conference, co-regulation of the Internet between governments and high-tech industry was proposed as the solution to the ever-growing problem of controlling the Internet