Protester killed by "injured policeman" in Genoa

A military statement based on preliminary police information said: "The death occurred during a violent assault on a carabinieri vehicle which led to the injury of some troops inside". The statement added that the gunshot was "presumably fired in defence" by one of the injured policemen.

A witness said that, after being shot, the man was run over by a security van. A Reuters photographer saw a group of demonstrators attack a Carabinieri van with stones. It is thought that the dead man was Spanish and in his 20s.

This is the first death since the big anti-globalisation protests began in Seattle 19 months ago. The killing prompted fresh anger among the protestors. They shouted "police, assassins" and battered a police van which accompanied the ambulance. After a brief commemorative applause the clashes resumed.

The Italian interior ministry is reporting that a young woman demonstrator has also been wounded. Television reports say that the woman, thought to be German, is "between life and death". An Italian police officer is reported as being "stable" after he sustained "very serious" injuries.

A hospital spokeswoman told the AFP news agency that 150 people have been treated, including 54 Carabinieri and eight reporters. None were seriously injured. Giovanna Cianchi did not have any details of a seriously injured German woman.

Following news of the protester's death, the Socialist Party in Ireland has called on the Taoiseach to demand a ban on the use of live ammunition and lethal force against protests in any EU country.

US President George W Bush said that he regretted the violence. Speaking to reporters, Gary Edson, Bush's deputy national security advisor said: "The death is tragic and the injuries to the protesters and to the police officers are highly regrettable".

Violence in Genoa worsened today as the G8 summit of the world's largest industrial countries met. In an earlier incident, a policeman fired shots in the air to repel a crowd of anti-globalisation protesters that had surrounded him. Police also fired water cannon and tear gas at protesters some 300 metres from the palace where the eight leaders were having lunch.

In the worst clashes, several police and protesters were injured when riot police attempted to halt a group of 15,000 demonstrators, led by a radical movement, as it approached the high-security cordon blocking streets leading to the summit venue. The clash, which took place in front on the Brignole Train Station, was the most serious of scattered battles that took place for several hours across the city. Rock-throwing protesters surrounded the "red zone" after noon, arriving in the city centre from five separate directions.

A number of protestors started fires, smashed windows, vandalised shops and removed cobblestones to use as missiles against the police. Italian authorities set up a security cordon in the city centre, the fenced-off "red zone", to try to prevent the demonstration affecting the talks. Some 20,000 police were trying to keep rock throwing protesters away from the "red zone" that prevents access to the summit venue, which located near the city's old port. The clashes took place as thousands of demonstrators converged on the secure zone in separate marches. At least 39 people have been arrested.

Thick black smoke coiled over the city centre from fires set in rubbish bins overturned by protesters. Television pictures showed one protester being led away by police with blood running down his face. They also showed the ransacked offices of a BNL bank branch that was ransacked by anti-capitalists. Smashed computers and other office equipment littered the street outside.

A large crowd of protesters tried to drag down a steel security barrier marking the edge of the "red zone", 500 metres from the Palazzo Ducale where the summit is taking place. Thousands of demonstrators packed into the Piazza Corvato at the edge of the "red zone" and pushed up against the four-metre barricade. The protesters threw ropes onto the barricade and attempted to drag it down.

As the first clashes broke out, marchers led by the Tute Bianchi (White Overalls), an Italian anarchist group linked to the WOMBLES that were active on Mayday in London and Ya Basta!, who were to the forefront of last year's protests in Prague, set off from the Carlini Sports Stadium on the eastern edge of the city. The stadium is being used as a convergence centre for the more radical groups. Members of the most radical groups have vowed to overwhelm the police cordon and disrupt the meeting of the eight world leaders.

Some 100,000 protesters are expected in Genoa during the three-day summit. Francesco Caruso, of the Italian "Rete no Global" (No Global Network) group, told AFP that between 2pm and 5pm local time today, large numbers of anarchist and leftist demonstrators would try to dismantle or scale the four-metre high steel fences thrown up around the "red zone".

The protestors represent a wide range of issues, including the environment, anti-militarisation, the arms trade, opposition to trade liberalisation, world debt and workers' rights. The G8, in particular, has been accused of being elitist and of increasing the gap between the world's rich and poor.

There have been disagreements among the protesters, as those who had hoped to hold a peaceful demonstration were angered by the actions of the more violent demonstrators. "It's a small minority, a few dozen people without any political ideas. They represent nothing, they're like hooligans," declared Enrico Fiocchi, an anti-globalisation activist. "The authorities will use this to justify setting up the red zone," he said.

The Mayor of Genoa urged anti-globalisation marchers to suspend their protest and withdraw from the city centre to allow police to arrest those responsible for torching and smashing property. Mayor Giuseppe Pericu said that he had personally called on the non-violent Genoa Social Forum co-ordinating the protests to withdraw from the streets.

The treatment of Greek demonstrators has caused a diplomatic incident between the Greek and Italian authorities. The Greek Foreign Minister personally phoned his Italian counterpart to protest on Friday, after Italian police forcefully stopped some 150 Greeks and manhandled them back on to a ferry to Greece. George Papandreou intervened over the treatment of the demonstrators headed for Genoa who had tried to disembark from a boat that docked at the Italian port of Ancona yesterday. A Greek government spokesman announced the protest to journalists and said that the police could have confronted the protesters in a different way.