People lay flowers Monday, Aug. 20, 2001 at the spot where 23 year-old Carlo Giuliani was shot dead by a Carabinieri para-military police officer in Genoa, Italy one month ago during clashes following protests against the G-8 summit. Giuliani was the first fatality in almost two years of anti-globalization protests around the world. (AP Photo/Italo Banchero)

Giuliani's father, a unionist, his mother and sister as well as supporters of the anti-globalization cause rallied in the square where the 23-year-old was shot during rioting as world leaders met in the port city for a Group of Eight (G8) summit.

A few passers-by expressed their sympathy.

At the request of the protester's father, Giuliano Giuliani, there was no official commemoration of Carlo's death in Genoa's Alimonda square, nor were banners or flags displayed.

"There will be no statements today. I've already talked too much," said Giuliani. "I want this to be a day of meditation."

According to Giuliani some 56 million lire (29,000 euros) had been paid into a bank account opened in Carlo's memory. Funds are to be used for a school to be built for children of a West Sahara refugee camp, symbolic adoptions and Palestinian orphans.

Mario Placanica, the 21-year-old carabinieri policeman who fatally wounded Giuliani as he threatened officers in a police car with a fire extinguisher, has said he was "sorry" about the death.

"I feel very bad about this," he told Corriere della Sera newspaper, in spite of a request by police top brass that he not comment on the Genoa tragedy.

"I never expected to be in a situation like this. I'm sorry. I could not do anything else. If I had been able to choose and avoid what happened, I would have done so," he said.

Giuliani has hinted at a possible meeting with the young policeman, who is from the southern Calabria region, but said in an interview it was still too early to see him now.

The anti-globalization umbrella organization Genoa Social Forum called the "killing of Carlo Giuliani a point of no return for everyone, the culmination of three days of police brutality on which light must be shed up to the highest level of responsibility."

Hundreds of people were injured and scores arrested in police crackdowns on peaceful demonstrators and rioters during the three-day summit.

Rioting also caused major damage to businesses and property in Genoa whose central area was closed down for nearly a week amid fears for the safety of summit participants.

Copyright © 2001 AFP

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