Monday, 11 September 2000, 11:34 am Article: Guy MacGibbon http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason
The World Economic Forum in Melbourne may not be able to go ahead today, with thousands of protestors blocking the entrances to the venue for the forum, preventing bus loads of delegates from entering, Green MP and protestor Nandor Tanczos said.
Speaking from the S11 protest group outside forum venue, the Crown Casino, Mr Tanczos said most of the delegates have not been able to get into the casino. He said he couldn't see how the meeting could go ahead if the delegates were unable to get in.
Mr Tanczos said West Australian Premier Richard Court tried to drive up to the front entrance, but was blocked by protesters and was stranded in his car amongst a sea of protesters for half an hour. He said mounted police cut through the crowd, allowing police on foot to get Mr Court away from the crowd.
Mr Tanczos said he saw one man have a tooth knocked out by police, and saw others bleeding from minor skirmishes. He said although there was some violence from the police, it wasn't as bad as it could be.
Mr Tanczos said he had not seen any violence from protestors. The S11 protests are intended to be non-violent.
"There are literally thousands and thousands and thousands of people," Mr Tanczos said. "It's hard to descibe the feeling of power out here."