… live on CNN, via longtime correspondent Mike Chinoy, who says the main group of protestors are South Korean farmers afraid that WTO agreements will endanger their livelihoods.
Seattle redux?*
[P]rotesters have clashed with police outside Hong Kong’s convention center where World Trade Organization talks were taking place.
The violent demonstrations on Saturday, the worst seen in Hong Kong for decades, were later quelled by police who sealed off the area. But protesters were refusing to disperse.
Protest organizers say they may cancel anti-WTO demonstrations planned for Sunday because of the violence, The Associated Press reported.
Hong Kong Police Commissioner Dick Lee said about 40 people were injured in the demonstration, including five police, AP reported.
Earlier, police used tear gas, fire hoses and pepper spray in attempts to quell demonstrations as the protesters tried to edge closer to the building where negotiations are taking place. […]
Many South Korean farmers are desperate to have their view against globalization and imports heard at the WTO.
They are opposed lower trade barriers for agricultural imports, which they claim would flood the South Korean market with cheap rice and force many of the country’s farmers out of business. It is a view shared by many anti-globalization groups in other countries.
Full story at CNN — with a LINK TO VIDEO (“Police clash with anti-globalization protesters (1:47)”)
Update [2005-12-17 14:37:31 by susanhu]: Mike Chinoy is reporting again. The protestors are being led peacefeully away as they’re arrested. The protestors wish to be “arrested with dignity.”
Below the fold, more about the WTO meeting:
Hong Kong has drawn criticism for holding the talks at the center, a building that is easily accessible, and also for establishing a protest area with a clear line that can be breached.
Inside the building, only limited progress was being made. A draft agreement touching on a variety of issues was released Saturday, but no final agreement had been reached as of Saturday night. (WTO: No firm date for farm rules)
Among other issues, the draft attempts to reach a compromise on a timeline for eliminating agricultural export subsidies in richer countries — an issue that has caused a rift between the United States and the European Union during the talks.
*P.S. Since I lived in Seattle during the WTO clashes, I can tell you that a lot of what the press reported was baloney. A long story.