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> TORONTO STAR.....
>
> International News Updates
>
>Sep 11, 21:59 EDT (Toronto time)
>
>Australian cops attack protesters
>
>MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Baton-wielding Australian police, some on
>horseback, charged through a human chain blocking access to an economic
>forum, leaving several protesters with bloodied faces, as renewed
>anti-globalization protests erupted Tuesday.
>
>The charge allowed several buses of delegates to enter the three-day Asia
>Pacific Economic Summit - the latest target of an anti-globalization
>movement - on its second day.
>
>But protest organizers warned the police action was an escalation of the
>violence that could rebound in stronger protests shortly.
>
>The police tactic appeared to be in response to the success of about 5,000
>protesters Monday in stopping about 200 of the conference's nearly 900
>delegates from entering Melbourne's Crown Casino, the venue of the three-day
>summit organized by the privately funded Switzerland-based World Economic
>Forum.
>
>Conference organizers said virtually all of the delegates were able to
>attend the conference Tuesday. Microsoft's Bill Gates was one leader due to
>address the meeting Tuesday.
>
>''We were just linking arms and enforcing the blockade, when the coppers
>came over the top of the barricade,'' said protester Frank Vanwierst, blood
>pouring down his face as he sat in a first-aid tent outside the casino.
>
>''I had my back turned but I was told a copper with a shaved head whacked me
>on the head with his baton.''
>
>Protest spokesman Stephen Jolly said police violence could spur protesters
>to retaliate, adding the demonstration will be boosted Tuesday by the
>addition of several-thousand labour union members.
>
>''There's a hell of a lot of workers coming down here today and this is
>going to heighten emotions something terrible I can tell you,'' Jolly said.
>
>In the worst of several isolated clashes Monday, dozens of protesters
>surrounded and climbed over Western Australian state Premier Richard Court's
>car before slashing its tires and spray-painting it with anti-capitalist
>slogans.
>
>Police responded by sending in officers on horseback and staging a baton
>charge. Five protesters and five police officers required hospital treatment.
>
>Two protesters were arrested Monday and one Tuesday. They were released and
>were expected to be charged with assaulting police.
>
>One organizer described the protests as ''Seattle without the tear gas'' but
>anti-globalization protests have only briefly flared into the sort of
>violence that marred last year's World Trade Organization talks in the
>United States.
>
>Prime Minister John Howard, who had to be taken into the casino by boat
>because protesters sealed off all other entrances, condemned the protests in
>a speech Monday night.
>
>''The right of lawful dissent on any subject is etched very deeply into the
>Australian way of life,'' Howard said.
>
>''We did not see lawful dissent today, we saw hooliganism which is
>unacceptable and un-Australian.''
>
>Many of the demonstrators said the civil unrest was the only way to register
>their distrust of the heads of global corporations.
>
>''We have no vote on who these major world leaders are,'' said Michael Gann,
>a native of California who lives in northern New South Wales state.
>
>''They are not accountable to people because they are not voted into
>office.''
>
>
>http://www.thestar.com/
>
> .............................................
> Bob Olsen, Toronto [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> .............................................
>
>
>
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