Friday July 20 12:30 PM ET

Police: Genoa Protester Who Was Shot Is Dead

GENOA (Reuters) - A protester who was shot on Friday during rioting at a Group of Eight summit in Genoa has died, an Italian police spokesman said.

Earlier, a Reuters photographer saw the protester get shot twice by paramilitary police after throwing a fire extinguisher at a police van as anti-globalization demonstrators clashed with police in the port city.

The demonstrator fell to the ground and then was run over by a Carabinieri jeep, the photographer said. It was not known whether he had died.

The incident occurred amid rioting in the Mediterranean port city on the first day of a three-day Group of Eight summit.

I am apalled at the facts that have developed from the Police brutality in Genoa, Italy. You know, I haven't made any comments about when we had our bio conference here in san diego and about what i noticed were different from genoa and here.

Well, for one thing people are attributing the "SAFETY" aquired when police are present.

I think its bullshit.

As you can see, and as we have historically known, cops are usually the problem.

They harass, they provoke and have tactics to incite violence.

Whereas protestors just want to break up meetings Peacefully, they want their voices to be heard basically.

Some protestors have resorted to violence but it has always been in defense of these police.

As you notice the protestors don't have guns.

This kid here didn't have a gun.

Yet you can clearly see that the young man was shot in the head.

What the fuck were those berlusconi fed cops thinking.

Well berlusconi this!

the IMC is covering this event well and treating this issue as it is, the most important news of the moment. The IMC provides this venue to discuss our ideas.

So far the only channel providing "some" coverage of the G8 event is MSNBC. Owned by Bill Gates.

This is in Channel 50 if you're in the La Jolla area.

Anyway, they are covering the Chandra Levy case and the G8 dead protestor event.

Well, guess what. You can clearly see how corporate media prioritizes one life over the other.

They put Chandra's parents, they have her family, the congressman all being thoroughly investigated and "Watched" by the media. Covered by the media. The families get live airtime where they get a chance to speak.

Where as when they cover the event of Genoa, all you hear are stupid idiotic journalists who are usually considered talking heads trying to "speak their mind" but because most journalists of the corporate media have been covering nothing but stupid crime beats and washington beats, I mean when it comes to talking about what the protestors want, they never know.

All they say, is we have a young man who is dead. We have this happening here. and there, but you don't see their "in depth reporting" when it comes to what the protestors want.

You don't see this child's parents on tv. YOu don't see their plea on TV where I'm sure they're asking that they stop attacking protestors.

YOu don't see protestors talking about why they are protesting.

And if you do, which so far today I haven't seen, they'll put sound bites that will make protestors seem irrational or inexperienced.

The media needs to get with it.

There is a wave of protests against policies that globalize a few and marginalize many.

They have to be like indymedia. True to the people.

But then again, they should just support indymedia. We can cover our events just fine.

This image has arrived to my home and the event just happened today.

I'm so horrified, but also wish to hear more from the families of this protestor and not of some white girl who was fucking a congressman in Washington DC and now is lost because some asshole doesn't want to take responsibility for his murderous actions.

But then the corporate media thinks that the life of a white girl in america is more important than the life of this kid we're seeing here in this picture.

z

This is a clear declaration of war, here is our 1st martyr and those fascist pigs will have to pay for it. Lets start to get the guns out and shoot those mother fuckers in reprisal...

when did you get released?

I mean, while you were in the nut house, did they serve jello or pudding?

z

The protestor opted to use violence, according to impartial witnesses. The police responded with a higher level of violence, and now the protestor is dead. Now, do I think the police response was excessive? Sure, but that's just my personal opinion. There's no objective way to draw the line and say "violence of less than such-and-such magnitude is an acceptable substitute for speech, but violence of more than that magnitude is unacceptable". What is the "acceptable police response" to having stuff thrown at them? Throwing it back? That sounds a little absurd.

You either side with the protesters or the cops. No fence sitting. The protestor did what he felt compelled to do. The cop did what he felt compelled to do. As a result, the protestor is dead because the cop had a monopoly on the use of force. This monopoly is tied to ruling class power, not some idealistic rule of law. The protestor died because he was willing to stand up to the transnational corporations on the streets of Genoa. Who will take his place?

I mean, what are the distinguishing characteristics of a motherfucker? How do you separate them from just plain human beings? Would it bother you if you made a mistake and killed a human being rather than a motherfucker? Or does it make sense to just shoot till you run out of bullets, and assume that everyone you killed was a motherfucker? Forgive me for quoting M.K. Gandhi, BUT:

"I want to change their thinking, not kill them for weaknesses that I myself also possess."