World Trade Talks in Chaos After Protests
By Donna Smith
Reuters
SEATTLE (Nov. 30) - A meeting of world trade leaders was thrown into chaos Tuesday by massive protests that choked this port city and effectively imprisoned many conference delegates in their hotels.
The streets of Seattle were shrouded in clouds of tear gas as armed police battled with demonstrators who successfully delayed the start of the opening ceremony of the World Trade Organization (WTO) by blocking key street intersections.
''What we're seeing on the streets is the deep concern and uncertainty that the benefits of globalization have not sufficiently reached the people of the world,'' said International Labor Organization Director-General Juan Somavia.
''Whose world? Our world. Whose streets? Our streets,'' chanted the protesters, who say free trade benefits big business at the expense of the environment, jobs and communities.
The demonstrations forced the WTO to postpone its opening ceremony from 10 a.m. and to shift location from a downtown theater to the city's more secure convention center, where the talks on a new global trade liberalization round are scheduled to take place until Dec. 3.
WTO Director-General Mike Moore announced the postponement to a half-empty theater. The decision to postpone the ceremony was taken by the U.S. government as host of the meeting, the WTO said.
''It's obviously very unfortunate that the sessions have been delayed, but the meetings will go on and we all realize the tremendous importance of success,'' Deputy Treasury Secretary Stuart Eizenstat said. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky was among those kept in her hotel by the protests, U.S. and WTO officials said.
''We stopped them,'' a gleeful speaker at a rally near the Paramount Theater said.
Police said they were using two types of pepper spray, one which is fired as a spray and the other which is shot as a plastic projectile containing pepper spray. They had also fired small rubber pellets, which they described as ''stingers.''
A 55-year-old college teacher among the protesters said had been hit by a police projectile. ''I heard a pop and next thing I know my leg was hurting,'' he said.
Separately, but adding to the confusion, around 16,000 people march through the city in a demonstration organized by the AFL-CIO labor confederation, which wants labor issues included in trade talks.
Earlier, the protesters took over at least five city intersections and chanted, sang and danced outside the theater where the opening ceremony of the WTO ministerial meeting was to take place.
Police and demonstrators had faced off peacefully for about 2-1/2 hours before police finally began to move in at around 10 a.m.
The Paramount Theater and the Seattle conference center where the meetings were to be held were surrounded by phalanxes of armed police wearing gas masks. Armored cars and mounted police were also deployed.
DELEGATES ''ASSAULTED''
Police warned delegates to stay in their hotels for their own safety and accused protesters of attacking some trade officials. ''Delegates are being assaulted and they're being bused to the convention center,'' a policeman said.
A Colombian delegation headed by foreign trade minister Martha Lucia Ramirez was assailed by demonstrators who banged on the roof of their car. Police had to disperse them.
''We were attacked by people with masks,'' a Colombian diplomat told Reuters.
Other delegates expressed their extreme frustration at the delay and the pressure they felt the demonstrations were exerting on this week's negotiations.
''I've never seen any meeting of this sort so badly organized and mishandled,'' said one senior developing country ambassador who heads his delegation at the WTO in Geneva.
''I'm convinced the Americans have let this happen to reduce the time available for negotiation and make it easier for them to put pressure on us to give in on issues vital to us,'' he added.
In Washington, President Clinton said he sympathized with protesters and said trade agreements should take into consideration labor and environmental concerns. Clinton is scheduled to arrive in the city early Wednesday.
The trade ministers were meeting to set the agenda for a new round of negotiations aimed at cutting tariffs and other barriers in a broad range of sectors from agriculture to electronic commerce.
By reaching out to labor unions and other WTO critics, the United States and the EU hoped to blunt criticism of the WTO and mollify the protesters.
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