FRANCE: ANTI-GLOBALISATION LEADER JOSE BOVE LEADS CYCLE PROTEST AGAINST G8 SUMMIT.

Record ID: 648066

  • Title: FRANCE: ANTI-GLOBALISATION LEADER JOSE BOVE LEADS CYCLE PROTEST AGAINST G8 SUMMIT.
  • Date: 29th May 2003
  • Summary: (W5) CHAMONIX, FRANCE (MAY 29, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/CU/MV/PAN: DEMONSTRATORS ON BIKES, GATHERING; COW BELL WITH SIGN READING "NO TO TRUCKS"; DEMONSTRATORS GATHERING (3 SHOTS) 0.19 2. GV/MV: GROUP OF MUSICIANS SINGING ANTI-GLOBALISATION SONGS (2 SHOTS) 0.40 3. LV/GV: FRENCH SECURITY FORCES CHECKING PAPERS AND SURROUNDING DEMONSTRATORS (2 SHOTS) 0.51 4. GV/MCU/PAN: JOSE BOVE ARRIVING ON BIKE (2 SHOTS) 1.05 5. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOSE BOVE, LEADER OF FARMER CONFEDERATION AND LEADING ANTIGLOBALISATION FIGURE, SAYING: "The summit of the richest countries is not a legitimate summit. What we want is to build another world. We don't want this world with profit and global profit, we don't want this world where the most of the people are killed, are starving and where the environment is destroyed. I think that we must have this big mobilisation to say to Europe, to the United States and all the big countries that we have to change the rules, we have to stop WTO which wants to put all the world under its conception of the world." 1.48 6. GV/MV: DEMONSTRATORS GATHERING AND PREPARING THEIR BIKES (3 SHOTS) 2.04 7. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) BERNARD LIMOZ, SPOKESMAN OF REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST LEAGUE, LCR, SAYING: "Our movement has always been pacifist and we are not here to provoke anyone. We are here to say that there are other ways to protest and that for that there's no need to break anything. If there will be a provocation, we do not have anything in common with it." 2.18 8. GV/MV: JOSE BOVE SURROUNDED BY DEMONSTRATORS ON BIKE RINGING A COW BELL; DEMONSTRATORS GOING UP HILL TOWARDS THE MONT BLANC TUNNEL ENTRANCE (5 SHOTS) 3.13 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 13th June 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CHAMONIX, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVAUZ3C0MPGEZMF1KEUYR6RWP0O
  • Story Text: French anti-globalisation leader Jose Bove has led the
    first demonstration organised against the upcoming G8 summit,
    followed by hundreds of environmentalists on bikes outside the
    Mont Blanc tunnel.



    Three days ahead of the opening of the G8 Summit in
    Evian, anti-globalisation activists organised a bike ride on
    Thursday (29 May 2003) at the Mont Blanc tunnel to protest at
    truck transport in the region.

    Led by French anti-globalisation leader Jose Bove, the
    demonstration was the first of the several planned to take
    place ahead of the summit.

    Demonstrators from the Group of Resistance against the G8,
    CHARG, gathered at the foothill outside the tunnel and rode up
    the mountain demanding protection for the environment.

    They said the demonstration outside the tunnel was a
    symbolic pacifist act to warn "the masters of the world"
    expected to meet in Evian that they cannot do with the planet
    as they please.

    "I think that we must have this big mobilisation to say to
    Europe, to the United States and all the big countries that we
    have to change the rules, we have to stop WTO which wants to
    put all the world under its conception of the world", Jose
    Bove told Reuters Television.

    The peaceful action unfolded amidst tight security, as the
    French forces began sealing off the area around the Alpine
    resort town of Evian ahead of the arrival of the heads of
    state.

    Protestors insisted their aims were non-violent.

    "Our movement has always been pacifist and we are not here
    to provoke anyone. We are here to say that there are other
    ways to protest and that for that there's no need to break
    anything" said the spokesman of French Revolutionary League,
    Bernard Limoz.

    Numerous roads in the area along the southern shore of
    Lake Geneva, on which Evian is located, will be closed to
    traffic from Thursday and regional train service will be
    periodically interrupted through June 5.

    France and neighbouring Switzerland have instituted a raft
    of checkpoints and security measures ahead of the June 1-3
    summit, with access to Evian severely restricted and a
    30-kilometer (18-mile) buffer zone encircling the chic spa
    town. France re-introduced border controls on May 22,
    effective until June 4.

    Some 15,000 French personnel, including 11,000 troops,
    will patrol the area where the leaders of the Group of Eight -
    the world's seven wealthiest nations plus Russia - will hold
    their annual summit. The leaders will be joined by the heads
    of state from a dozen emerging nations including Brazil,
    China, Nigeria and South Africa.

    Some 4,000 Swiss police officers and 5,600 soldiers will
    be mobilised for protests planned to coincide with the summit,
    and will be aided by 1,000 German police officers called in as
    reinforcements.

    gb/jrc


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