Carlo Giuliani was an Italian anti-globalization protester who was shot dead while attacking a Carabinieri van with a fire extinguisher, by an officer who was inside the van, during the anti-globalization riots outside the July 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, making his the first death during an anti-globalization demonstration since the movement's rise from the 1999 Seattle WTO protests.
Photographs showed Giuliani, a 23-year-old Roman living in Genoa, throwing a fire extinguisher towards the van, a pistol firing a shot in return from the van, and Giuliani's body having been run over by the van. Charges against the officer were initially dropped without trial as a judge ruled that the ricocheted bullet was fired in self-defense, but the incident became a point of public scrutiny.
Eight years after the incident, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Italian forces had acted within their limits, but awarded damages for the state's procedural handling of the case. Appeals upheld the ruling, and Giuliani's family later filed a civil suit.
Giuliani was memorialized in music tributes, such as Jaye Muller's CARLO and public monuments, and is remembered as a symbol of the 2001 G8 protests. The 2002 documentary Carlo Giuliani, Boy, recounts the incident.
Incident
In July 2001, anti-globalization demonstrators protested the 27th G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, where leaders of the world's major industrialized nations met. Among these protesters was Carlo Giuliani, a 23-year-old Roman Italian and resident of Genoa, whom a police officer shot and killed during what had become a riot two miles from the summit. It was the first death in an anti-globalization demonstration since its rise from the 1999 Seattle WTO protests. According to a Reuters photographer, who took photographs of the incident, Giuliani and several other young, male protesters had surrounded and attacked a police van with rocks and other weapons. Italian television broadcast several photographs, in which Giuliani threw a fire extinguisher at the van. A hand from inside the van then fired a pistol in response, and Giuliani collapsed behind the van. Further photographs and reports show that the van had run over his legs twice after he was shot. The Italian interior minister confirmed that Giuliani had been hit by a bullet fired in self-defense by a police officer, who was later hospitalized for his injuries.
The New York Times said it was unclear why the riot police had live ammunition, whereas other Genoa riot police used water cannons, riot sticks, and tear gas elsewhere in the city. About 1,000 people attended Giuliani's funeral in Genoa, his coffin ornamented in ferns and A.S. Roma's flag.
Investigations
In the case against Carabiniere Mario Placanica, evidence was given by a ballistics expert that the fatal bullet had "ricocheted off plaster". All charges against Mario Placanica were dropped when Judge Daloiso, who presided over the case, concluded that the fatal bullet that struck Giuliani was not directly aimed at Giuliani, and ruled that Placanica had acted in self-defense. The case was not taken to trial.
However, during a later trial in Genoa of some demonstrators allegedly involved in clashes the same day Giuliani was killed, the same forensic doctor, professor Marco Salvi, who had been a consultant to Silvio Franz, the prosecutor who led the case against Mario Placanica, testified that Giuliani had been the victim of a "direct hit", thus contradicting the evidence previously given and laying doubt on the decision made based on the alleged change of direction of the bullet. Medics tending to Giuliani after he was run over testified that his heart was still beating, and this was confirmed by professor Salvi during the trial in Genoa. To confuse the situation further, in late 2003 Placanica told the Bologna daily Il Resto Del Carlino that "I've been used to cover up the responsibility of others." He claimed that the bullet found in Giuliani's body was not of the caliber or type fired by the pistols of the Carabinieri, and claimed the deadly shot had come from somewhere in the piazza outside. After making this statement, Placanica was involved in a car accident that his lawyer claimed was "very suspicious." Placanica was allegedly kept in seclusion following the incident, and his parents were not allowed to visit him in the hospital.