Jonathan Cheng, The Standard
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Activists are working hard to steer the focus of their anti-WTO protests back to trade issues, but the question on everyone’s mind remains the specter of street violence and rumors of the existence of a blacklist that would see protesters barred from entering Hong Kong.
“We have said many times that we are coming for peaceful protest,” said Jeon Siho, a spokeswoman for the Korean People’s Action Against Free Trade Agreements and the WTO, at a Hong Kong People’s Alliance on WTO press conference Tuesday. “We’re very sad. There’re lots we want to say, but the focus is mainly on violence.”
The activists have tried to quell concerns that protests will turn violent, but the briefing underscored the public relations dilemma the activists face as they head into the final stages of planning: even though they insist their intentions are only peaceful, nobody can guarantee there won’t be violence.
People’s Alliance spokeswoman Mabel Au said protest organizers are stocking up on first aid kits, surgical masks, towels, bottled water and even crash helmets – measures that seem to at least acknowledge the possibility of a crisis.
Though she downplayed the acquisitions as standard precautions (and insisted the helmets were only for the safety of workers pinning up outdoor banners and signs), she argued that the group was only a coordinating body and could not be responsible for everything that could possibly happen.
The plan, she said, was to “isolate situations” as they arose, so as to minimize the disruptions and keep the focus on the substance of the protests: that the WTO’s policies are hurting the livelihood of many in the developing world.
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