REINING IN THE ‘PROTESTERS'

Tuesday July 24 02:13 AM EDT

REINING IN THE ‘PROTESTERS'

The G-8 summit has now passed and George W. Bush acquitted himself well. Unfortunately, the headlines were again stolen by a roving band of leftists and anarchists who have attempted to push nearly every international economic conference of the past 18 months into near-chaos.

It began with the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle during the fall of 1999. Since then, events have nearly overwhelmed meetings in Philadelphia and Washington.

In Genoa, the protests turned deadly as one rabblerouser, a Carlo Giuliani, was shot and killed by an Italian cop - who himself is now under investigation for possible manslaughter charges.

We won't presume to suggest how the Italian authorities should handle this.

However, considering the thousands of protesters, that Giuliani had his head completely covered and that he was hurling what turned out to be a fire extinguisher - but which could have been a bomb - it's hard to criticize the confrontation's outcome.

In any event, the incident certainly underscores how out of control the anti-globalism movement has gotten.

Some of the G-8 leaders said they wanted to create a culture of greater "understanding" with the protesters.

But that presupposes the protesters are interested in "understanding."

Sorry, but that's not the case.

Indeed, it's time that a little more light was shed on the street demonstrators and the infrastructure that supports them.

Exactly what are these groups?

Who is funding them?

What are their capabilities?

In Carlo Giuliani, the movement has its first "martyr." The world leaders should strive to ensure that there won't be innocent victims the next time around.