SWITZERLAND/FRANCE: ANTI-GLOBALISATION PROTESTORS MARCH ON WTO HEADQUARTERS IN GENEVA, RIOTS LATEST.
Record ID:
648563
SWITZERLAND/FRANCE: ANTI-GLOBALISATION PROTESTORS MARCH ON WTO HEADQUARTERS IN GENEVA, RIOTS LATEST.
- Title: SWITZERLAND/FRANCE: ANTI-GLOBALISATION PROTESTORS MARCH ON WTO HEADQUARTERS IN GENEVA, RIOTS LATEST.
- Date: 30th May 2003
- Summary: (W5) GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (MAY 30, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: ANTI-GLOBALISATION PROTESTERS MARCHING IN STREETS OF GENEVA 0.03 2. LAS: PROTESTERS JUGGLING IN FRONT OF WIPO HEADQUARTERS 0.08 3. LV/GV: PROTESTERS ATTACKING SHELL PETROL STATION; VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS THROWING STONES, BREAKING PETROL STATION'S WINDOWNS (3 SHOTS) 0.25 4. gv: TWO MASKED PROTESTERS THROWING A STEEL POLE INTO AUDI GARAGE WINDOW, SMASHING WINDOW TO PIECES 0.36 5. GV: POLICEMEN WITH RIOT GEAR PROTECTING PETROL STATION 0.40 (W4) GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (MAY 30, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 6. GV/MCU: ,ANTI-GLOBALISATION ACTIVISTS GATHERING IN GENEVA NEAR LAKE LEMAN; PLACARD DECORATED WITH SUN, SAYING "NO G8, WE ARE THE CONSCIENCE OF THE FUTURE" (2 SHOTS0 0.51 7. CU: PROTESTERS PREPARING PAPIER-MACHE FIGURE, WRAPPED WITH BANNER SAYING: "SHUT DOWN WTO (WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION, IOM (INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR MIGRATION) 0.55 8. GV/PAN: START OF PROTEST, PEOPLE RUNNING IN STREETS, MAN DANCING ON STILTS WITH SLOGAN ON CLOTHES SAYING: "OPEN BORDER" 1.04 9. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) PROTESTER, SAYING: "It is a demonstration for the freedom of movement. We came from France on a free train because freedom of movement also means free public transport. We crossed the border because freedom of movement also means open borders. We are staging protests in front of the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) because it is the organisation in charge of migration movements all over the world and it collaborates with the WTO, this is why we are also going past the World Trade Organisation (WTO)." 1.29 10. LV/TV/PAN: PROTESTERS MARCHING, HOLDING BANNER AND SHOUTING SLOGANS; HIGH VIEW OF PROTESTERS MARCHING ALONG LAKE; PROTESTERS HOLDING COLOURFUL FLAG; BANNER SAYING: "FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT" (4 SHOTS) 1.53 11. LV: PROTESTERS WALKING AWAY FROM HILL, HEADING TOWARDS HEADQUARTERS OF WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION 1.56 12. LV: HELICOPTERS FLYING OVERHEAD 2.00 13. GV/PULL OUT: PROTESTERS GATHERING OUTSIDE THE WTO 2.08 14. GV: MASKED PROTESTERS 2.11 15. GV/MCU: PROTESTERS SPRAYING GATE (2 SHOTS) 2.17 16. GV/ZOOM IN/CU: STATUE WRAPPED WITH BANNER READING: "FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT" 2.22 17. GV: MASKED PROTESTER CLIMBING ONTO WTO FENCE, WAVING BLACK FLAG 2.26 18. GV/GV/PAN: PROTESTERS THROWING STONES AT POLICE; RIOT POLICE PROTECTING WTO HEADQUARTERS; MORE VIEWS OF STONE THROWING AND RIOT POLICE (4 SHOTS) 2.42 (W3) ANNEMASSE, FRANCE (MAY 30, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 19. GV/MV: GROUPS OF ANTI GLOBALISATION ACTIVISTS GATHERING AT ANNEMASSE TRAIN STATION; TRAIN ARRIVING, ACTIVISTS CHEERING; ACTIVISTS GETTING INTO TRAIN; TRAIN LEAVING ON WAY TO GENEVA (4 SHOTS) 3.03 20. GV/MV: TENT CITY WHERE ANTI GLOBALISATION ACTIVISTS ARE CAMPING IN ANNEMASSE; BANNER ADVERTISING ORGANIC VEGAN KITCHEN; ACTIVISTS AT VEGAN CANTEEN; MAN SLEEPING IN SUN WITH HIS DOG (4 SHOTS) 3.19 21. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) "GREEN" ACTIVIST, SAYING: "This village really filled up yesterday, with several distinct areas, this area right there is the "green" area, called "The Dream," several groups have got together to put forward an alternative way of life, close to nature, and respecting nature." 3.35 22. VU/GV/PAN/GV: RAINBOW-COLOURED BANNER OUTSIDE TENT SAYING: "PACE";DOZENS OF TENTS PITCHED IN GRASS; WIND-POWERED ELECTRICAL SUPPLY; VARIOUS OF MULTI-COLOURED UMBRELLAS SPINNING IN WIND (4 SHOTS) 3.51 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 14th June 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND/ ANNEMASSE, FRANCE
- City:
- Country: France Switzerland
- Reuters ID: LVA15Y1PK48QVQ43EKL3WIDX6SYM
- Story Text: Protesters against a weekend summit of Group of Eight
leaders have marched on international organisations in Geneva,
some hurling stones and breaking windows.
Protesters against a weekend summit of Group of Eight
leaders marched on international organisations in Geneva on
Friday (May 30), some hurling stones and breaking windows.
Police fired a volley of tear gas to drive demonstrators
away from the International Organisation for Migration and a
small group broke briefly into the grounds of the World Trade
Organisation before withdrawing at the insistence of march
organisers. There were no immediate reports of any arrests or
injuries.
The mainly young demonstrators, totalling up to 2,000,
chanted slogans against the U.S.-British invasion of Iraq,
against capitalism, free trade and migration controls as they
moved through a largely deserted and boarded-up city.
A group of protesters attacked a petrol station and threw
stones at an Audi garage, smashing windows. They were pushed
back by riot police.
The march was the first of many expected demonstrations in
and around Geneva over the next four days as the G8 heads of
state and government gather in the nearby French spa town of
Evian from Saturday to debate world problems.
"It is a demonstration for the freedom of movement. We came
from France on a free train because freedom of movement also
means free public transport. We crossed the border because
freedom of movement also means open borders. We are staging
protests in front of the International Organisation of
Migration (IOM) because it is the organisation in charge of
migration movements all over the world and it collaborates
with the WTO, this is why we are also going past the World
Trade Organisation (WTO)," said a protester who declined to
give his name.
Although the local authorities had banned protests on the
right bank of Lake Geneva, where most international
organisations have their headquarters, police made no attempt
to stop the marchers as they moved out from the city centre.
Before leaving the WTO, protesters tore down the 144-nation
organisation's sign at the front gate and daubed walls with
the
favourite slogan of anti-globalisers, "Smash the WTO."
The building was largely empty, with most employees on
leave until next Wednesday.
The marchers also threw rocks at the largely glass-fronted
World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), without doing
significant damage.
But the Russian mission, just in front of the U.N.
European headquarters, suffered some broken windows as
demonstrators
chanted "Putin Murderer, Putin Murderer."
Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Friday presiding over
ceremonies in St Petersburg marking the city's 500th
anniversary, is due in Evian on Saturday to join leaders of
the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and
Italy, as well as those of a number of Third World countries.
Left-wing groups in Europe accuse him of genocide in Chechnya.
Anti-G8 literature seen in Geneva over the past few days
has singled out the situation in the region, where Russian
forces
have over a decade sought to put down efforts by leaders of
its largely Muslim people to create an independent state.
Anti-G8 literature has also criticised the IOM -- founded
after World War Two to help refugees from Soviet-controlled
Eastern Europe to settle in the West at a time when the United
Nations itself was paralysed by the Cold War.
But the agency, which plays a key role in resettling
people displaced or fleeing their countries after wars and
internal
strife, had never until now been the target of violence.
"No Borders, No Nations, No Extradition," the
demonstrators chanted. "The IOM is the Natural Enemy of Any
Migrant."
The southern Swiss cities of Geneva and Lausanne are
bracing for some heavy blows during next week's Group of Eight
summit just over the border in France.
France picked the spa town of Evian on the shores of Lake
Geneva for the annual meeting of the world's most powerful
leaders because the twisting roads leading to it were easy to
defend against anti-globalisation protesters.
That meant the possibly violent protests would be
Switzerland's problem, with hordes of demonstrators converging
on Lausanne and Geneva, the latter the home of the World Trade
Organisation and the United Nations' European headquarters.
Haunted by images of the bloody street battles at Genoa's
G8 summit two years ago, the Swiss are taking no chances with
the
three-day meeting of the leaders of Britain, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
Hundreds of police have been drafted in from neighbouring
Swiss cantons (states) and 1,000 troops have been borrowed
from
Germany to put a ring of steel around Geneva airport, where
U.S. President George W. Bush and other leaders arrive on
Sunday.
Anti-globalisation activists are converging on Switzerland
from all over Europe. Some left the French city of Annemasse
and headed towards Geneva on Friday morning.
The activists, coming from various countries, have been
living in tent cities on the outskirts of the French border
town of Annemasse, preparing to participate in a massive
demonstration scheduled to take part on Sunday, when the heads
of state of the eight most powerful countries in the world
will arrive in Evian for the three-day summit.
Clusters of anti-globalisation protesters mainly from
France, Germany and Italy have increasingly been arriving into
the "alternative villages" set up in fields near this small
town on the French-Swiss. Some have set up in a tent city
called "the intergalactic village", and others in an anarchist
settlement nearby.
Every morning, the inhabitants of "barrios" or
neighbourhoods arrange meetings to discuss ways of better
organising life in the village, sharing out daily tasks.
The tent city sports a relaxed, alternative lifestyle. It
features organic Vegan kitchens, and wind-powered electricity
supplies.
"This village really filled up yesterday, with several
distinct areas, this area right there is the "green" area,
called "The Dream," several groups have got together to put
forward an alternative way of life, close to nature, and
respecting nature," said one of the activists.
Until now the activists have been allowed to proceed with
their protest plans, despite a massive security operation
carried out by security French forces. All areas surrounding
the Alpine resort town of Evian have been sealed off ahead of
the arrival of the heads of state.
clv/
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