WTO officials have admitted they had cancelled the opening ceremony of their ministerial meeting on Tuesday because protests had kept trade delegates from around the world confined to their hotel rooms.
"It's been decided to drop all the ceremonial business and get on with the real work that we came here for," said a WTO official, who asked not to be identified.
Meanwhile, President Bill Clinton, in a possible attempt to calm the atmosphere, has said that he sympathised with protesters at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle and that trade agreements should take into consideration labour and environmental concerns.
There have been violent clashes in London between riot police and anti-capitalist demonstrators, who are protesting against the World Trade Organisation summit in Seattle. Trouble started after hundreds of campaigners, who had gathered at Euston Station, moved forward towards police. Bottles, cans and sticks were thrown at the police.
In Seattle, police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of demonstrators. Some of the demonstrators claimed police fired rubber bullets, but the police deny this. The protesters claim that free trade benefits big business, at the expense of workers, the environment and communities.
Delegates to the conference want to set an agenda for a new round of negotiations on the further liberalisation of global markets. However, the demonstrators have warned that they will shut down the city to highlight their opposition.
The ministers were meeting to set the agenda for a new round of negotiations. The main items up for discussion will include the European subsidies on agriculture and whether minimum labour standards should be introduced for WTO countries. The three years of talks that are to follow this meeting will also aim to reduce trade tariffs in a range of sectors, including construction, entertainment, telecommunications and electronic commerce. On Monday, the US, Japan and the EU clashed over the shape of a new round of global trade talks. A major sticking point is agriculture, but other disputes over anti-dumping laws and labour standards threatened to disrupt the talks, which are set to run through Friday.
Activists in Seattle have already seized the limelight, attacking a McDonald's restaurant and facing off with riot police in full body armour outside a Nike store yesterday, a day that was filled with protests in which several people were arrested. In London, police braced themselves early for anti-capitalist protests. Around 200 protesters gathered this morning in London's Trafalgar Square, chanting and carrying banners saying "Stop the WTO" and "Ban Asbestos", while riot police blocked the roads.
A similar protest on June 18, code-named J18, turned into London's most violent for a decade as riot police clashed with protesters, and cars were burned and offices smashed. Today's actions, this time code-named N30, were planned at locations in London's City financial district and at the headquarters of Citibank in Lewisham, south London. Police had not expected demonstrations on such a large scale as in June, but took no risks. The protests have been organised by anarchist direct action group, Reclaim the Streets.
