AUSTRALIA: A mounted police charge was used to quell violence at an anti-globalisation protest yesterday in Sydney, where around 2,000 protesters marched in advance of today's World Trade Organisation talks.
Police made 15 arrests, including three women who stripped naked, lay on US flags and covered themselves with fake blood in front of the US consulate. The three were convicted of offensive behaviour, but the magistrate recorded no convictions. Each was ordered to pay Aus$59 (€33) in court costs. Other charges brought against arrested protesters included obstruction, assault and a charge over the burning of an American flag.
Supt Glen Harrison of the Sydney police said a small element of the march was "committed to provoking violence".
"Fifty or 60 of the protesters have been pushing and shoving and trying to provoke the police and cause disruption to police and traffic," he said.
After the violence erupted, a police horse injured a reporter from the Australian newspaper who was covering the march.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a statement on the eve of the meeting, urging the 145-nation WTO to meet a year-end deadline for dealing with the issue of generic drugs.
The statement said that Mr Annan "strongly urges the trade ministers meeting in Sydney to propose, without delay, a long-term solution that will deliver affordable medicines and vaccines to the millions of people suffering from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other deadly diseases".
The WTO agreed at its summit in Doha, Qatar, to allow developing nations to override patents held by pharmaceutical companies in order to produce cheaper generic drugs in time of medical crises.
But it barred those countries from exporting the generic drugs, leaving the poorest states which have no pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in the lurch.
Yesterday's march, which included union members, students, environmentalists and church and community groups, ended peacefully after the arrests were made.
However, further protests are expected outside today's meeting at Olympic Park, where 25 of the world's trade ministers will discuss, in addition to the generic drugs issue, the removal of trade barriers for agriculture and services.
Police have imposed security restrictions similar to those seen at the Sydney Olympics two years ago, locking down the conference site with a ring of steel fencing and concrete barriers.
On the conference sidelines, Australia and the United States agreed yesterday to formal talks on a free-trade pact as they seek to boost annual trade worth more than €20 billion.
Australia has pushed for years for free-trade talks with the US, its second-largest trading partner.
It estimates that greater access to the US market would boost the Australian economy by €2.24 billion a year.