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Chile protests precede Bush visit
Chilean anti-riot forces and student protesters have clashed, three days before President George Bush's arrival for a weekend Asia-Pacific (APEC) summit.
Picture from http://valparaiso.indymedia.org/news/2004/11/713.php
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Street clashes broke out on Wednesday shortly before APEC forum foreign and trade ministers opened two days of talks.
In the Chilean capital, helmeted military-style police with plastic shields fired water cannon as the demonstrators gathered along the central Alameda boulevard, hoping to march to the central library.
There appeared to be several hundred demonstrators in dispersed groups.
No injuries were immediately reported.
Students, some from secondary school, cut off a side street, building barricades with trash cans, and threw paint bombs at police vehicles, according to an AFP photographer.
Police arrests
Police hauled away dozens of the anti-APEC, anti-Bush protesters.
"They won't let us protest because they want to show a false image (to the APEC leaders)," said one demonstrator, student Sebastian Valenzuela.
The conference centre, far from the centre of Santiago, was protected by mounted military style police. Security forces, with side-arms but no automatic weapons visible, checked entrants and their bags.
Policymakers were discussing counter-terrorism measures, how to spur flagging efforts to tear down global trade barriers, and whether to consider an Asia-Pacific free trade agreement, according to a copy of their agenda obtained by AFP.
North Korea was not on the official agenda.
Pressuring Pyongyang
But US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who resigned on Monday and will be succeeded by national security advisor Condoleezza Rice, planned to apply regional pressure to Pyongyang, which has refused to join six-country talks to end its nuclear weapons drive.
"(We will) make sure that we use our alliances in Asia and the partnerships we have in Asia to keep pressing to find a solution to the North Korean nuclear programme," he told a news conference this week in Washington.
Bush is pushing his core agenda, seeking support for the "war on terror" and the Iraq conflict.
On the economic debate, Asia-Pacific leaders appeared split on a radical proposal by business chiefs for APEC leaders to consider the creation of a region-wide free trade agreement.
APEC is already working on a decade-old set of non-binding promises, made in Bogor, Indonesia, to demolish barriers to trade and investment by 2010 in its developed economies and by 2020 in developing economies.
APEC comprises Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/165AC71F-45EB-462D-8E10-AB47B9EC1460.htm
---
Street clashes broke out on Wednesday shortly before APEC forum foreign and trade ministers opened two days of talks.
In the Chilean capital, helmeted military-style police with plastic shields fired water cannon as the demonstrators gathered along the central Alameda boulevard, hoping to march to the central library.
There appeared to be several hundred demonstrators in dispersed groups.
No injuries were immediately reported.
Students, some from secondary school, cut off a side street, building barricades with trash cans, and threw paint bombs at police vehicles, according to an AFP photographer.
Police arrests
Police hauled away dozens of the anti-APEC, anti-Bush protesters.
"They won't let us protest because they want to show a false image (to the APEC leaders)," said one demonstrator, student Sebastian Valenzuela.
The conference centre, far from the centre of Santiago, was protected by mounted military style police. Security forces, with side-arms but no automatic weapons visible, checked entrants and their bags.
Policymakers were discussing counter-terrorism measures, how to spur flagging efforts to tear down global trade barriers, and whether to consider an Asia-Pacific free trade agreement, according to a copy of their agenda obtained by AFP.
North Korea was not on the official agenda.
Pressuring Pyongyang
But US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who resigned on Monday and will be succeeded by national security advisor Condoleezza Rice, planned to apply regional pressure to Pyongyang, which has refused to join six-country talks to end its nuclear weapons drive.
"(We will) make sure that we use our alliances in Asia and the partnerships we have in Asia to keep pressing to find a solution to the North Korean nuclear programme," he told a news conference this week in Washington.
Bush is pushing his core agenda, seeking support for the "war on terror" and the Iraq conflict.
On the economic debate, Asia-Pacific leaders appeared split on a radical proposal by business chiefs for APEC leaders to consider the creation of a region-wide free trade agreement.
APEC is already working on a decade-old set of non-binding promises, made in Bogor, Indonesia, to demolish barriers to trade and investment by 2010 in its developed economies and by 2020 in developing economies.
APEC comprises Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/165AC71F-45EB-462D-8E10-AB47B9EC1460.htm
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Hundreds of students protesting against the Apec meeting in Chile and an upcoming visit by US President George W Bush have clashed with riot police.
The unauthorised student march was met with water cannon and tear gas.
The students blocked traffic and built barricades. Estimates of the number detained ranged from 120 to 500.
Counter-terrorism and trade were expected to dominate discussion as ministers from the 21 Asian-Pacific nations met.
The meeting precedes the weekend's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Forum, attended by national leaders.
Protests dispersed
There is tight security ahead of the summit, with about 4,000 police deployed in Santiago, a city of about 5.5 million.
La Tercera newspaper said the police began dispersing the students as they met ahead of a planned march several kilometres away from the Apec convention centre on Wednesday.
They fired water cannon and teargas, prompting local shops to hurriedly close.
The students regrouped and began taking banners out of their bags only to be forcibly dispersed again.
One report said they built barricades down side streets with rubbish bins and threw paint bombs at police.
The students said they opposed, among other things, the war in Iraq and neo-liberal capitalist policies.
"I oppose the Apec summit because they only come to drink wine and talk, when the decisions have already been made," Caterina Paz told La Tercera.
"And besides, Bush is the icon of international terrorism."
Read More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4020801.stm
The unauthorised student march was met with water cannon and tear gas.
The students blocked traffic and built barricades. Estimates of the number detained ranged from 120 to 500.
Counter-terrorism and trade were expected to dominate discussion as ministers from the 21 Asian-Pacific nations met.
The meeting precedes the weekend's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Forum, attended by national leaders.
Protests dispersed
There is tight security ahead of the summit, with about 4,000 police deployed in Santiago, a city of about 5.5 million.
La Tercera newspaper said the police began dispersing the students as they met ahead of a planned march several kilometres away from the Apec convention centre on Wednesday.
They fired water cannon and teargas, prompting local shops to hurriedly close.
The students regrouped and began taking banners out of their bags only to be forcibly dispersed again.
One report said they built barricades down side streets with rubbish bins and threw paint bombs at police.
The students said they opposed, among other things, the war in Iraq and neo-liberal capitalist policies.
"I oppose the Apec summit because they only come to drink wine and talk, when the decisions have already been made," Caterina Paz told La Tercera.
"And besides, Bush is the icon of international terrorism."
Read More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4020801.stm
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