Carlo Giuliani (14 March 1978 - 20 July 2001) was an
Italian anti-globalist who was shot dead by a police officer during the
demonstrations against the Group of Eight summit that was held in
Genoa from July 19 to July 21, 2001.
Incident
Death of Carlo Giuliani. Carabiniere's firearm can be seen in the top right of the left-hand photograph. In between these photos, the police vehicle has run over Giuliani's body twice.
Carlo Giuliani, born in
Rome, was the son of Giuliano Giuliani,
a
CGIL trade union activist, and
Haidi Giuliani, who after his death would become a Senator for the
Communist Refoundation Party. On July 20, 2001, Giuliani was participating in a protest against the 27th
Group of Eight summit in
Genoa,
Italy, when he was killed during a violent clash between protesters and Italian
Carabinieri in Piazza Alimonda. A Carabinieri vehicle became stuck and was attacked by protesters (wielding metal poles and wooden boards). In the midst of this clash, Giuliani, who was wearing a blue
ski mask, picked up a fire extinguisher, intending to throw it at the officers inside the police Land Rover Defender. He was shot in the face at point blank range by one of the officers. The Land Rover then drove once backwards and once forwards over Giuliani's body.
Trial
All charges against the Carabiniere who shot Giuliani, Mario Placanica, were dropped, when the judge presiding over the case concluded that the fatal bullet that struck Giuliani was not directly aimed at Giuliani and had "ricocheted off plaster", and ruled that he had acted in self-defense, without taking the case 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 decision previously made based on the alleged mid-air change of direction of the bullet. The conclusion of Judge Daloiso, which had already been subjected to strong criticism, was challenged by the press, as was the decision not to charge the driver of the Land Rover for running over Giuliani on the basis that he was already dead. 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 "suspicious" car accident, days after allegedly observing someone tampering with his car. Placanica was allegedly kept in seclusion following the incident, and his parents were not allowed to visit him in the hospital.
On August 25, 2009 the European Court of Human Rights notified in writing its judgement in the case of Giuliani and Gaggio v. Italy. It judged no excessive use of force was used and it was not established that Italian authorities had failed to comply with their positive obligations to protect Carlo Giuliani’s life. The Court did judge Italy has not complied with its procedural obligations in connection with the death of Carlo Giuliani and has awarded a total of 40.000 euro in non-pecuniary damage to the three applicants.
Legacy
- Carlo Giuliani has become a symbol of civil unrest during the G8 summit in Genoa.
- Following the 2007 Catania football violence, graffiti appeared in the headquarters of local newspaper Il Tirreno in Livorno, hailing the riot as revenge for Carlo Giuliani's death. Similar graffiti also appeared in Piacenza, Rome, Milan, and Palermo.
- The anarcho-punk band Conflict released a song in his memory, titled "Carlo Giuliani".
- Slovenian anarcho-punk band Aktivna Propaganda talk of him in their song "Senza Frontiere" ("Without borders").
- Spanish ska band Ska-P remembers Carlo through their song "Solamente por pensar" ("Only For Thinking") and then translated its lyrics into Italian for a concert in Italy, calling it "Solamente per pensare" (same title translated into Italian) .
- Croatian anarcho-crust band AK47 made a song titled c. Giuliani, in which they warned about meaning of his fight and his sacrifice.
- The North-American "Outspoken Word Troupe" of political poets published a piece entitled "A Tale of Two Giulianis" contrasting Carlo to former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.
- The English anarchist pop group Chumbawamba wrote English lyrics to the traditional World War II anti-fascist Italian partisans song Bella Ciao after visiting Genoa during the G8 summit meeting. The song was dedicated to Carlo Giuliani.
- Italian singer-songwriter Francesco Guccini wrote a song about Carlo Giuliani and the G8 summit incidents, named "Piazza Alimonda" (the place where Giuliani was shot) and included in his album Ritratti of 2004. He is mentioned also in the new e-single Riot by Italian rapper/producer Nesli. The lyrics "Lascio in pace i morti come Carlo Giuliani" which roughly translated means "I leave the dead, like Carlo Giuliani, to rest in peace"
- Russian Oi/punk band Nichego Horoshego mentions Carlo in their song "V moyei strane"("In My Country").
- Piazza Alimonda, the plaza where Giuliani was killed, was unofficially renamed "Piazza Carlo Giuliani" by activists, who erected a memorial there for mementos, photographs, writings and flowers. This memorial has since been set on fire twice. Another memorial, instituted at the expense of his parents, features simply the words "Carlo Giuliani, boy." Another plaza, in Bern, Switzerland, has also been named "Carlo-Giuliani Platz" in memoriam; the renaming took place during a memorial art exhibition called The Geometries of Memory.
- In 2007, the Communist Refoundation Party renamed its Presidential Office in the Italian Parliament after Carlo Giuliani. Giuliani's mother, Haidi, was elected Senator for the party in the 2006 election specifically to begin a parliamentary inquiry into Carlo's death. There were many problems with right-wing party. After the exit from the parliament of PRC by the result of 2008 election, the name was changed.
- Giuliani has been described as "a Genovese hooligan" on p. 224 of Gary Shteyngart's novel Absurdistan.
- In 2002, Francesca Comencini directed a documentary film titled Carlo Giuliani, ragazzo about the shooting. It was screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
- The 2005 film Dot.Kill directed by John Irvin described the Giuliani slaying as causing violent anti-globalist splinter groups to proliferate, as a possible motive for the online slayings of CEOs portrayed in the film.
