- Title: FRANCE: ANTI G-7 PROTEST IN LYON AS PREPARATIONS FOR SUMMIT CONTINUE
- Date: 24th June 1996
- Summary: LYON, FRANCE (JUNE 24 AND 25, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) (JUNE 25, 1996) 1. LV: WIDE OF PROTEST MARCH 0.06 2. GV/MV: MARCHING DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING PLACARDS AND BANNERS (13 SHOTS) 1.24 3. MV: LOUIS VIANNET, LEADER OF FRANCE'S LARGEST UNION CGT, MARCHING AT HEAD OF DEMONSTRATORS (2 SHOTS) 1.36 4. MV: PROTESTOR HOLDING A FIRE
- Embargoed: 9th July 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LYON, FRANCE
- City:
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVA5TQZNDTDJ6OKNQ0WDTXPN3S33
- Story Text: INTRO: Heads of state from around the world are due to gather in Lyon ahead of Thursday's start of the Group Seven summit of industrialised nations. Japan's Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has been the first leader to arrive for the event.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Whilst preparations were underway in Lyon on Tuesday (June 25) for the G7 summit which begins on Thursday, more than 10,000 trade union members held a huge demonstration.
It was the first time in the G7's 21-year history that major trade unions have protested to fight job cuts, labour deregulation and attacks on public services in the West.
All France's major unions were united in Tuesday's demonstration to draw attention to what they see as the sinister impact of the global economy -- an assault on the developed world's health and welfare systems and the exploitation of cheap labour in Asia or Latin America in place of unionised workers in Europe, the United States and Japan.
Demonstration organisers said Lyon was a fitting symbol of resistance to injustice, recalling a bloody rebellion in 1831 by ill-paid silk industry workers in which 171 workers and 170 soldiers were killed.
Organisers of the summit are confident it will put the name of Lyon on the world map and regain, if only for three days, the fame it enjoyed as the Lugdunum capital of Roman Gaul and a wealthy Renaissance trading centre.
The leaders of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, Italy, Canada, France will meet on Thursday, with their escort of thousands of officials and 2,500 journalists and camera crews.
Russian premier Viktor Chernomyrdin joins in on Friday.
Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto was the first leader to arrive. Accompanied by 180 officials, he was greeted by French Interior Minister Jean-Louis Debre at Lyons airport on Tuesday (June 25).
Hashimoto is expected to to spend Wednesday (June 26) sightseeing.
The summit will be the fourth in France since 1975.
Eager to please, Lyon is deploying its assets: a glittering new congress centre built by Italian architect Renza Piano beside the Rhone river.
Between talks at the Museum of Contemporary Art, French President Jacques Chirac will treat his guests to lunch in the nearby Tete d'Or rose garden and dinner at one of of the city's various restaurants enjoying the Michelin Guide's stars of cooking excellence, Leon de Lyon.
The world leaders attending the talks will seek to bolster fragile peace in Bosnia and the Middle East at the summit, but on both issues, their attempts to look on the bright side may be unconvincing.
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