http://www.sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=22378&group=webcast
WTO protesters to defy ban (10.000?)
by The Australian (mainstream daily) 2:53pm Sat Nov 9 '02 article#22378
[..] About 10,000 protesters are expected to go ahead with plans to
bring the centre of the city to a standstill during the two-day WTO
meeting at Sydney Olympic Park. [..]
WTO protesters to defy ban
By Patricia Karvelas and Ashleigh Wilson
09nov02
ANTI-WORLD Trade Organisation protesters are threatening to defy
authorities and take to Sydney's streets during an international
conference next week despite police refusing marching permits.
About 10,000 protesters are expected to go ahead with plans to bring the
centre of the city to a standstill during the two-day WTO meeting at
Sydney Olympic Park. But the student activists have conceded they have
no chance of repeating the scenes of Seattle and Melbourne, where
anti-globalisation protests severely disrupted WTO proceedings.
Activists will protest on the WTO site at Homebush only on the second
day of the meeting, confining action to the city on other days.
Jim Casey, a 32-year-old union activist and member of the International
Socialist Organisation, said the protesters have had to be realistic.
"Certainly the fact that they've made it at Homebush is going to cramp
our style," Mr Casey said. "But there's no point blockading a hotel when
they are already inside."
Protesters said laws passed for the 2000 Olympics, which gave police
increased powers to quell protests, were still current and had prevented
them from deciding to block the meeting.
NSW Police inner-metropolitan region commander Dick Adams said peaceful
gatherings would be allowed but would not approve "anything that will
blockade streets or disrupt people".
Simon Butler, national co-ordinator of socialist youth organisation
Resistance, said activists would go ahead with planned marches. "It's an
attempt to intimidate people from protesting. People will hate the idea
that the right to free speech is being denied to them."
The protesters, mainly students from Melbourne and Sydney, warned
yesterday they would target the US consulate and the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The loose network of more than 130 protest organisers were determined to
disrupt the city.
Mr Casey said that on the second day of the meeting protesters would be
at the WTO venue from 7am to protest. He said he supported individuals
or groups who attempted to gain entry and occupy the meeting. "I support
anyone's right to attempt to get in and stop the meeting. But the idea
that people are making bombs is not true."
Anne O'Brien, 21, spokeswoman for the "green bloc", said momentum for
anti-globalisation protests was stronger than ever.
Matthew Skellern, national environment officer of the National Union of
Students, said people would still attempt to disrupt the meeting.
"We don't want to be a small group of people who go to the site and get
kicked round by cops, so I won't be going."
The protesters' grievances include the destruction of the environment,
Third World debt, poor labour conditions, indigenous rights, world
poverty and the effects of free trade.
They have also vowed to resist federal government plans to shut down or
restrict access to activist websites that advocate violent
demonstrations. The federal Government has announced it will review
online content laws to crack down on sites that incite violence.
Protesters said they would move sites to overseas servers or set up
duplicate "mirror" sites if required, making it difficult for them to be
closed down.
© The Australian
--
--
Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
mailto:leftlink@;vicnet.net.au
Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/
Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop
Sub: mailto:majordomo@;vicnet.net.au?Body=subscribe%20leftlink
Unsub: mailto:majordomo@;vicnet.net.au?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
