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"In the end, we all want the same thing: A better world, or, at least a less disgusting one." Giuliano Giuliani, father of slain Genoa protester Carlo Giuliani, speaking at his son's funeral. Thousands of Italians attended the funeral Wednesday of Carlo Giuliani, the 23-year-old protester shot by police during last week's Group of Eight summit in Genoa. Some of those who came to pay their respects wore t-shirts expressing their anger over the killing. One featured the words: "The killer's car: CC AE 217" -- a reference to the license plate of the police vehicle that ran over Giuliani's dead body after he was shot Friday. The victim's father, Giuliano, appealed for the government to answer for the death of his son. "That clash, (Carlo) certainly didn't seek it," said the elder Giuliani. "And the state should answer for this murder. I want an explanation. Calls for a more aggressive investigation of the killing have grown louder following a report in the mass-circulation Corriere della Sera newspaper, which quoted an unnamed senior police officer as saying that the officials managing the response to the Genoa protests had deployed inexperienced and inadequately trained officers. "There was no need to shoot to kill," the officer told the newspaper. "He could have fired in the air or at the boy's legs." Leaders of the coalition of center-left opposition parties in the Italian parliament have called for the resignation of Interior Minister Claudio Scajola, a major player in the conservative Forza Italia party led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Scajola has been the chief defender of police actions in Genoa. But the opposition is now charging that the police employed brutality protesters in Genoa. International voices have joined the chorus of Italians questioning Scajola's quick defense of the police and demanding a thorough investigation of what happened in Genoa. "Why did other police vehicles, less than 30 meters from the besieged Land Rover, not intervene? Why were police armed with lead bullets rather than non-lethal rubber pellets?" asked London's Observer newspaper. "What strategic blunders allowed a young conscript to be so isolated and terrified? And what sort of training does this paramilitary police force give such conscripts?" >From the United States came a letter, addressed to Prime Minister Berlusconi, by U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga. An outspoken critic of police brutality in the U.S., McKinney expressed her concern that, if justice is not done in the Genoa case "doubts may arise about the existence of democracy within developed nations. The text of McKinney's letter read: Dear Prime Minister Berlusconi: During the recent G-8 Summit your nation hosted in Genoa, Italy, activists and protesters from a myriad of backgrounds and with a multitude of interests gathered to share their concerns about globalization, trade and the perceived threats to the global environment, indigenous communities and developing nations' economies. I share many of their concerns, and appreciate their efforts to increase the profile of the inequality and exploitation involved in globalization. Unfortunately, their protest was marred by the murder of one young activist, Carlo Giuliani, who was shot twice in the head and then apparently run over by a Carabinieri vehicle. I would like you to know that I support the investigation and prosecution of police officers who are found to be responsible for this atrocity. As this is the first death to occur at a recent, large protest accompanying an international summit, I believe that care must be taken to insure that justice is correctly administered in this case. Otherwise, doubts may arise about the existence of democracy within developed nations - a parallel theme often voiced at such protests. Further, like many in your nation, I oppose the death penalty in practice and in theory, and feel that the events surrounding the death of Mr. Giuliani resemble too closely a death sentence meted out by over-zealous law enforcement agents. As is too often the case in the United States, it is my hope that those responsible for this death will not be excused. Please see to it that a full investigation pursues justice in the name of Carlo Giuliani, and for the sake of freedom and democracy in our global community. Sincerely, Cynthia McKinney Member of Congress http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/
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