A-Infos (en) Canada, Quebec, MEDIA: A20: Protesters to be heard in future

[Chuck0 <chuck@tao.ca>]

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Escalating protests cause headaches for trade summit organizers

QUEBEC CITY, April 22 (AFP) -

Leaders of violent anti-free-trade protests outside the third Summit of
the
Americas here said Sunday they succeeded in ensuring their voices will
be
heard at future trade gatherings.

"The activists in Quebec -- workers, teachers, peasants, students,
women,
et cetera -- reflect the evolution of an opposition movement that is now
bigger, more diverse and that is present in all the international
summits,"
said John Cavanagh, director of the Institute for Policy Studies in
Washington and an organizer of the protests here.

Some 430 protesters were arrested at the three-day summit which ended
here
Sunday, police said. Three photographers and a reporter were among those
arrested, according a group monitoring press freedom here.

Some 200 people were injured, including 46 police officers, although
most
of the injuries were minor.

Confrontations between security forces and demonstrators have
accompanied
major world trade talks since the failed World Trade Organization summit
in
Seattle in December 1999.

Subsequent meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in
Prague and Washington also were met with violent demonstrations aimed at
disrupting them.

Protesters here hurled stones, hockey pucks, golf balls and separated
pieces of concrete blocks in clashes overnight Saturday, said police
spokesman Steve Desroches.

Some of the 6,700 police officers on hand responded with tear gas
canisters, which protesters picked up and hurled back over a
three-meter-high (10-foot-high), 3.8-kilometer-long (2.4-mile-long)
wire-fenced security perimeter installed to protect the 34 pan-American
leaders here for the summit.

Several hundred young demonstrators, many self-styled anarchists, were
at
the forefront of the clashes, while mainstream protesters were peaceful.

The biggest protest, which drew 30,000 marchers to the streets Saturday,
passed without incident, with demonstrators anxious to avoid being
linked
to more violent elements.

The march was part of the People's Summit, a week-long forum on
alternatives to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, which will
encompass North, Central and South America.

"We want to make sure that the world's leaders hear us," said Ben
Richman,
a Canadian lawyer who participated in the march. "We want to make them
make
decisions that benefit the people and not only the big corporations."

In a sign the protests were having their desired effect, Argentine
President Fernando de la Rua, who will host the next Summit of the
Americas
between now and 2005, said Sunday he will welcome demonstrations.

"The next summit, which I will be honored to host in Argentina, will not
require walls to keep those who come to protest, and there will be space
for those who come to applaud when we work for the benefit and the
progress
of all peoples," he said.


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