Police Arrest More Than 30 Protesters After G7 Meeting

Published on Sunday, June 16, 2002 by Agence France Presse
Police Arrest More Than 30 Protesters After G7 Meeting
 
HALIFAX - June 15 - Police have arrested dozens of protesters who were part of a rowdy anti-globalization crowd, which succeeded in overturning metal barriers protecting the sites of the G7 finance ministers' meeting.

A protester stands near toppled police barriers as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police riot squad maintain their position outside a meeting of G-7 finance ministers in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Saturday, June 15, 2002. (AP Photo/CP, Andrew Vaughan)
"There's been 34 people detained as a result of what went on in downtown today," said Wayne Noonan, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who said it was uncertain at present whether charges would be filed against the demonstrators.

"That's still under investigation," he said late Saturday. "They're still being processed."

The streets of this Atlantic harbor city were emptied of both protesters and police by mid-afternoon.

Earlier in the day, police unleashed tear gas and pepper spray around 1700 GMT to disperse a crowd - at one time some 200-people strong - that had tried to overturn a second set of waist-high metal barriers very close to the World Trade and Convention Center.

The group eventually succeeded, but the number of protesters shrank significantly after police used the chemical agents.

Later, many continued to shout anti-globalization slogans in the streets to the beat of drums, tambourines and whistles as the gas' effect diminished, but a four-line deep row of riot police protected the intersection with the overturned barriers.

The young anti-globalization protesters - some wearing handkerchiefs and goggles to protect them from the lingering gas - chanted "Our streets," and drew chalk slogans on the street, reading "Resist global corporate occupation."

"It certainly appears they (the protesters) are a bit more aggressive than yesterday," Spicer said.

On Friday, a coalition of protesters, led by a bagpiper, marched through the streets amid tight security in a peaceful demonstration ahead of the start of the meeting of ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

Activists said these protests were held to build momentum for bigger demonstrations at the Group of Eight (G7 and Russia) summit in Kananaskis, in the Canadian province of Alberta, June 26-27.



©2002 AFP