arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Thursday, October 19 9:55 PM SGT

Thousands of protestors slam Asia-Europe summit
SEOUL, Oct 19 (AFP) -
Thousands of protestors staged a boisterous anti-globalization rally Thursday
as Asian and European leaders gathered in Seoul for a cross-continent
summit.

"No globalization," chanted some 4,000 students, labor leaders and civil
rights activists at Soongsil University campus in southern Seoul on the eve of
the third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

The evening rally drew some 100 foreign activists taking part in a forum of
nongovernment organizations (NGOs) held to coincide with the summit on
Friday and Saturday.

Tens of thousands of police, backed by helicopters and armoured riot
vehicles, have been deployed throughout Seoul to stop protests. But no
violence was reported.

The protestors punched the air, surrounding a podium decorated with a
banner reading "We Oppose Neo-liberalization and Globalization!" and a
large picture depicting an angry slogan-chanting worker.

Students and union activists held up placards blasting ASEM for promoting a
US-led globalization movement and vowed to lead a protest march on
Friday, which will be kept several kilometers from the ASEM convention
center.

The march will be headed by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
(KCTU), a militant union group which has opposed sweeping economic
reforms since an economic crisis forced South Korea to accept a
58-billion-dollar bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in late
1997.

The protestors blasted the lending policies of international institutions such as
the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the IMF for increasing the suffering
of poor nations by imposing harsh repayment obligations.

"Globalization is a main cause of worsening labor conditions." read a
statement distributed at the rally.

"Disband the international organizations soliciting neo-liberalism. Stop
negotiations about free trade measures and block the WTO New Round."

South Korean pressure groups have pledged there will be no repeat of the
violence that dogged the WTO conference last year in Seattle, and the World
Bank/IMF meetings in Prague last month.

But organizers of ASEM, South Korea's biggest international event since the
1988 Olympics, are desperate to avoid violent clashes with protestors and
are taking no chances with security.

From Thursday, riot police sealed off all public access to within two
kilometers (1.2 miles) of the sprawling ASEM site.

A South Korean photograher reported seeing around 20 local student
activists detained by police after trying to break through police lines.
However police denied any arrests had been made.