A reminder of what happened last year:
Hong Kong was hit by its most violent street clashes in more than
30 years last night as riot police fought running battles with
protesters on the penultimate day of World Trade Organisation
talks.
While negotiators inside the conference hall struggled to agree to
a watered-down compromise on the future of global commerce,
demonstrators outside ratcheted up their attempt to derail a deal
that they believe sells poor countries short.
The result was the fiercest fighting this normally sedate
commercial city has seen since the 1960s.
Police Commissioner Dick Lee said 41 people - including five police
- were injured, but only two of them needed to be kept in hospital.
Lee said police have detained 900 people and were determining
whether to formally arrest them. 'If necessary we will make
arrests. We will not let them go easily,' he said.
Police used water cannon, tear gas and pepper spray to repulse
protesters - mostly Korean farmers - who tried to break through
their lines with iron bars, wooden poles and battering rams made
from steel security barriers.
With the clashes spread out over several hours and locations, there
were numerous injuries, including several Koreans and police with
bloody head wounds, and a woman who lost consciousness amid a
thick, acrid cloud of tear gas. At one point, protesters smashed
their way through police lines and entered the outer buildings of
the convention centre. However, they were quickly driven out by
police using truncheons - and according to one unconfirmed report -
rubber bullets.
Miles of roads were cordoned off in the emergency, preventing trade
delegates - at least temporarily - from entering or leaving the
conference hall at a crucial stage in negotiations. 'The enemy have
gathered near here,' explained one young police officer. 'There are
hundreds of them, so we have blocked the roads.'
The fighting transformed a whole stretch of the city. The red-light
strip of Wan Chai was eerily deserted. Instead of the usual
Saturday-night hustle and bustle of prostitutes, strippers and
punters, the area was locked down by thousands of grim-faced riot
police.
The shopping and dining area of Causeway Bay was similarly blocked
off. Instead of traffic and shoppers, the streets echoed with
ambulence sirens, the buzz of police helicopters, the rhythmic
drumming beaten out by Korean farm women in traditional dress, and
the occasional dull crack of a tear gas round.
'We had a permit to protest, but midway along our route the police
blocked our way. That is why there was violence,' said Rex Verona
of the Asian Migrants Forum. 'Now is a critical moment in the
negotiations. We will not allow governments and negotiators to sell
us out.'
The demonstrators' anger has been stirred up by reports that
negotiators are moving closer to a compromise package that does not
include the key demand of many NGOs: an end to European and
American agriculture subsidies that are destroying the livelihood
of farmers in poor countries. Although there may be a small aid
package to ease the disappointment, the most important issues
related to global inequality are likely to be deferred to a
make-or-break meeting early next year, while the main demands of
wealthy nations - related to the service and manufacturing sectors
- are pushed to the fore.
It is still far from clear that a deal can be agreed before
tomorrow's deadline. The demonstrators want wavering countries -
particularly Venezuela, Indonesia, Cuba, South Africa and the
Philippines - to veto the plan.
'This protest is geared to strengthen the resistance of developing
countries inside the conference centre, so they can block the awful
deal that is being discussed,' said Walden Bellow, director of
Focus on the Global South, who held out a copy of the proposal on
the front line of the demonstration.
Despite the conservative and peace-loving reputation of Hong Kong,
many local people who saw the clashes sympathised with the
demonstrators.
Dozens joined the protests, some wearing surgical face masks for
the first time since the Sars crisis, but this time to conceal
their identity and protect themselves against tear gas.
'I'm ready to join the front line,' said one 20-year-old student
who gave his name only as Z. 'I've never done this before, but I
listen to the anti-globalisation lyrics of bands like Franco
American. I'm angry at the WTO.'
Late last night hundreds of protesters were still on the streets:
some lying down, some chanting, some drumming, many promising to
stay there until morning if that was what it took to get their
message across to the delegates.
'We would just like to march to the front of the convention centre
so that we can express our opinion,' said Lee Chang Eun, of the
Korean Federation of Trade Unions
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1669943,00.html
