Anti-Global riots in Naples [BBC]

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BBC News Online: Business 
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   Saturday, 17 March, 2001, 21:16 GMT 
   
  Anti-globalisation clashes in Italy
  
   Thousands of anti-globalisation protesters have clashed with riot
   police in the Italian city of Naples.
   
   An estimated 20,000 demonstrators gathered to protest against a
   meeting of the Global Forum - a conference of government and
   technology leaders being held in the city.
   
   Police fired teargas and rubber bullets at demonstrators after they
   broke through barricades in an attempt to reach conference delegates
   from 120 governments.
   
   Injured policeman

   More than 100 people were injured in the violence, including one
   police commander who was taken to hospital with serious head wounds.
   
   Paving stones and smoke bombs were thrown from the crowds and rubbish
   containers were set on fire.
   
   The protest was organised by the No Global Network and included
   hard-line left-wing groups, anarchists, environmentalists and local
   unemployed people from Naples.
   
   Witnesses said the central square looked like a battlefield as
   ambulances ferried the injured out.
   
   Helicopters overhead
   
   Several people, including journalists and parliamentarians, accused
   the police of using "gratuitous violence", but the Naples police chief
   said his men were attacked and the response was fitting.
   
   A journalist and photographer said they had been beaten up by the
   police, while protest organisers said a pregnant woman had been among
   those hurt.
   
   An Italian television crew was also attacked by the protesters.
   
   Cars and offices were damaged in the protest and shop windows were
   smashed.
   
   Many store owners had shut their businesses in anticipation of the
   violence.
   
   Helicopters circled overhead monitoring the clashes and about 100
   people are reported to have been arrested.
   
   "The situation is under control, but we remain vigilant," police
   spokesman Nicola Izzo said.
   
   The demonstrators gathered at the scene after arriving in Naples on
   trains from Milan and Palermo.
   
   Digital divide
   
   A total of 6,000 police had been drafted into the city, and had sealed
   off the centre with barricades and riot vehicles in preparation for
   possible clashes.
   
   The global forum, involving 800 delegates from governments and
   international organisations, has focused on how new technologies
   change the concept and practice of government.
   
   While the five-day forum has a section dedicated to the digital
   divide, and ways of ensuring electronic access to developing nations,
   the protestors say the Internet age is only exacerbating inequalities.
   
   Tight security has been imposed at dozens of summits and high-level
   finance meetings throughout Europe and the United States since huge
   anti-globalisation riots wrecked a meeting of the World Trade
   Organisation in Seattle in 1999.
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   Related to this story:
   Debating globalisation (26 Jan 01 | Business) Globalisation and its
   discontents (21 Dec 00 | Review) The limits of globalisation (07 Nov
   00 | Business) G15 leaders attack globalisation (19 Jun 00 | Middle
   East) Globalisation: What on Earth is it about? (14 Sep
   00 | e-cyclopedia)
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