'Protesters win first round' by BY SUSAN PRICE 12:32pm Mon Sep 11 '00 phone: (02) 9690 1220 glw at greenleft.org.au
MELBOURNE - Ten thousand people have blockaded all entrances of the World Economic Forum's Crown Towers venue, forcing the Victorian leader of the opposition, Denis Napthine to concede the "protesters have unfortunately won the first round".
(September 11, 2000, 11.30am) MELBOURNE - Ten thousand people have blockaded all entrances of the World Economic Forum's Crown Towers venue, forcing the Victorian leader of the opposition, Denis Napthine to concede the "protesters have unfortunately won the first round".
According to a conference official, 200 of the 850 delegates are still to get into the World Economic Forum, including Western Australian Premier Richard Court, whose car was turned away by protesters. WEF officials claim they are "still confident" of getting the remainder in.
Protesters have been pouring into the streets surrounding the site of the WEF's Asia-Pacific summit since 6am this morning, some having even slept at the site overnight. Despite Antarctic weather conditions, over 5000 people had gathered by 8.30am.
In a highly organised deployment of forces, all entrances to the Crown site have maintained strong blockade contingents. Reports from legal observers indicate that there have been minimal arrests, and no charges laid at the time of publication.
The blockade has been remarkably peaceful in the main and the protesters determined and disciplined.
However, in a scene reminiscent of the tactical response group's attack on the picket line at Richmond Secondary College in 1993, police did at one point deploy horses and a twenty-deep phalanx of burly officers to briefly drive a wedge through one blockade on the Clarendon Street side of the casino. That aside, police have made only a few, halting efforts to break other blockade lines.
Melbourne's weather could not have been less kind to protesters, unleashing a severe downpour and high winds which lasted from 6.30am and forced the abandonment of the speakers' platform until just 30 minutes ago. The sun finally emerged at 11am and, in what could be described as comic timing, John Farnham's "Your the Voice" (the S11 "theme" song) blasted out of the PA system.
People who had been cowering under cover emerged to warm themselves in the sunlight, lifting the spirit of the protest even higher.
There is a carnival atmosphere here at the blockade site, with a colourful array of costumes and contingents covering all points of the left and progressive political spectrum. Protest organisers have already dubbed it the "Festival of the Oppressed".
www.greenleft.org.au/globalaction/s11/da...
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Yay ! Success and Celebration !! by Betty 1:29pm Mon Sep 11 '00 bettybluebaby at hotmail.com
Yay ! A sensational morning down by the river. What a fantastic feeling of union. It is so good to see that amongst all the chaos on the blockade that we were having an impact. Overall a very peaceful, determined cross-section of activists. Violence only rose its ugly head when police panicked the face of expertly organised and fiercely detrmined blockaders. I think that the boys and girls in blue (that includes the hired security personnel) were caught mentally unprepared for the sheer numbers and organised resistance. A success thus far !!