> 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.