 Anti-G8 protesters test police
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-08 07:30 Protesters yesterday tried to push through police lines to get closer to a summit of G8 leaders in a remote country area of northern Japan, but were easily turned back by police. So far, 21,000 police in Hokkaido have easily contained protests against the summit with only a few scuffles and a handful of arrests, in sharp contrast to previous gatherings of rich country leaders. Last year's Group of Eight meeting in Germany attracted 30,000 protesters and demonstrators were able to push past police with water cannon to block access to the G8 venue. But this year's summit, in a remote corner of Japan amid rolling hills, has seen only a couple of thousand gather and they are outnumbered by police by around 10 to one. Several hundred demonstrators yesterday left two camp sites around Lake Toya to walk in the rain towards the lakeside resort where the leaders were holding talks with their counterparts from seven African countries. Japanese authorities had given permission for protest walks to take place in the morning but one group tried to go further than allowed and another group tried to leave its camp again in the afternoon. Around 150 people walked towards the southern tip of the lake, from where they hoped to see in the distance the hilltop hotel where the G8 leaders are meeting. Satoshi Shiratori, 60, traveled up from his home near Tokyo to join the protesters, whose causes ranged from anti-G8 and peace issues to campaigns against US beef imports. "I am against the idea of summits," he said. "It's not good for just a small number of nations to make decisions on things like poverty and rising food and oil prices," Shiratori said. Agencies  (China Daily 07/08/2008 page12) |
