Socialist Youth, and the Socialist Party in Northern Ireland, sent members from here to the anti-globalisation protests in Genoa, Italy, towards the end of July 2001. Yet again we saw the hypocrisy of the capitalist class. You have the right of protest, but openly when we allow it, and in the conditions we allow it. if not, we send in the riot police, and people get killed, as in this case, a protester.
After the protests in Italy Socialist Youth held a very successful public meeting in Belfast to report back on the events, over 55 attended. Following this we supported a vigil ouside the offices of the European Commission, Bedford Street.
Our public meeting and the protest both got a good amount of coverage, see below.
Irish News 27th July 2001
‘Protesters did not provoke police’
By Andrea McKernon
A PICKET was held outside the European Commission offices in Belfast yesterday in protest at the shooting of an anti-capitalist protester by Italian police.
Members of the Syndicalist Solidarity Network vented their anger after 23-year-old Carlos Giuliani was shot dead in Genoa last Saturday.
Spokesman Gary Mulcahy said there was global outrage at the actions of Italian police who were accused of brutality against protesters. [Gary is not the speaker for the SSN, he was present as a representative of Socialist Youth and as someone who'd been in Genoa. This was pointed out to the Irish News.]
Mr Mulcahy, who was one of around 100 Irish protesters who travelled to the demonstrations at the G8 Summit last week and became caught up in the violence, called for an independent inquiry into the police action.
“The demonstration was overwhelmingly peaceful, but the police attacked us with tear gas in an completely unprovoked attack,” he said.
He defended the protest against the world capitalist system and called for support from people across Ireland.
“In Ireland, north and south, the governments have been implementing the policies dictated by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the countries of G8 – policies of privatisation of state assets which are exploiting the poor throughout the world,” he added.
The Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday promised there would be “no cover up of the truth” about charges of police brutality against protesters.
One officer is being questioning over possible manslaughter charges.
Andersonstown News 28th July 2001
Local man returns home from Genoa riots blaming police for the trouble
Story by: ANTHONY NEESON
One of the many Irish protesters who demonstrated on the street of Genoa on Saturday during the G8 summit says the Italian police over-reacted and caused much of the trouble that led to millions of pounds worth of damage in the picturesque Italian port city.
Italian Carlo Giuliani (23) was shot dead and hundreds injured during clashes between police and protesters as running battles gripped the Mediterranean town leaving cars and businesses in flames in its wake. Much of the blame was placed at the door of the protesters – over 100,000 had descended on the Italian city, protesting against a wide range of issues including Third World debt and the Kyoto Treaty on fuel emissions. A large anti-capitalist contingent was there too.
“I travelled with a party of Socialist Youth,” said Gary Mulcahy, who runs the organisation’s Belfast office and who only returned home yesterday. “I would estimate that over one hundred people travelled from Ireland to Genoa from different organisations, all worried about the type of world that big business is creating.
“A week before the G8 summit, ourselves and the Socialist Party met up in Belgium to discuss tactics, because the last thing we wanted was anarchists hi-jacking the demonstrations – we wanted to give guidance to the protest.
“All that anarchists want to do is to wreck a city, but all this does is to deflect attention away from the issues and give the state a stick to beat us with by introducing draconian measures.”
The Italian government spent £80 million on security to make sure that the violence that has followed previous G8 summits would not take place. However, Gary says the police tactics over the weekend provoked a lot of the violence.
“The behaviour of the Italian police was disgraceful,” said Gary. “The vast majority of the marchers who were there on Saturday wanted to take part in a peaceful demonstration to show their opposition to global capitalism. Yet we were systematically attacked by the police with tear gas and batons.
“We couldn’t get to our destinations because of the police attacks. Our contingent ended up taking a ten-mile detour.
“We also clearly saw the agents provocateurs sent by the police into the march. They were dressed like anarchists but at different points could be seen chatting to the police away from the confrontations.”
Socialist Youth were in Genoa protesting against the policies employed by the World Trade Organisation, The World Bank and the European Union, which are now impacting on Ireland North and South, they say.
“What we are finding more and more is that people are frustrated and taking to the streets. None of the main political parties are representing the views of young people and this frustration is now being shown in what’s happening on the streets.”
Just to give one indication of the mood in Europe during the anti-capitalist protests, here is a note on the attempts by the French government to STOP lLEGAL protesters from moving to Italy to join in.
"The French government has backed down and allowed the Globalise Resistance train to Genua to proceed through France under pressure from French rail workers! (source: Indymedia web page) This is not just great in itself, it gives us an excellent example to use when talking about the importance of the working class!"
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