Hundreds of antiglobalization protesters marched on the streets of Hokkaido, Japan, around the scene of the current G8 summit. The 2008 G8 summit, a gathering of the leaders of France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada, began yesterday in Hokkaido, Japan.
Some of the protesters were wearing helmets and masks, and according to NECN.com, were shouting “crash the summit.”
There was a large police presence at the scene of the protests, with some of the officers being equipped with riot gear. They claimed that some of the protests violated Japanese law.
In addition to the protests, activists in Mali held the Poor People’s Summit at a time to coincide with the G8 summit.
The Group of Eight (G8) is an international forum for the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The G8 can refer to the member states or to the annual summit meeting of the G8 heads of government. G8 ministers also meet throughout the year, such as the G7/8 finance ministers (who meet four times a year), G8 foreign ministers or G8 environment ministers. The European Union is also represented at the meetings by the president of the European Commission and the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Each calendar year, the responsibility of hosting the G8 rotates through the member states in the following order: France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada. The holder of the presidency sets the agenda, hosts the summit for that year and determines which ministerial meetings will take place. Lately, both France and the United Kingdom have expressed a desire to expand the group and include five developing countries, referred to as the Outreach Five (O5) or the Plus Five: Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. These countries have participated as guests in previous meetings, which are sometimes called G8+5.
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