|
SYDNEY: Surfers and singers protested in Sydney
Friday ahead of an Asia Pacific summit that has prompted the largest
security operation ever staged in Australia.
Activists said the security
clampdown involving more than 5,000 police and troops had forced
them to get creative when making their point, as authorities have
placed tight restrictions on traditional activities such as marches.
Without doubt the cheekiest
protest is an event called “Bums for Bush” scheduled for later
Friday, where organizers were hoping to set the world record for
mooning with the exposure of 2,000 behinds.
If they fail to make the numbers,
they have organized a “21-bum salute” for US President George W.
Bush, with one posterior for every government represented at this
week’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
The grouping includes major
powers such as the United States, China and Russia along with
smaller countries such as Peru and Papua New Guinea.
A group of surfers at Sydney’s
iconic Bondi Beach kicked off a series of protests Friday from
groups concerned over a range of causes, including climate change
and the Iraq war, or simply unhappy with Bush’s presence Down
Under.
About 75 surfers, many wearing
wetsuits to ward off the spring morning chill, gathered on the Bondi
sands at sunrise around a huge banner demanding APEC endorse binding
targets for reducing the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
Greens senator Kerry Nettle
maintained the beach theme when she held a press conference in the
heart of Sydney’s financial district flanked by 21 supporters
dressed as surf-lifesavers.
Explaining that she wanted APEC
economies to act as “lifesavers” to the planet, Nettle
described the security that has resulted in the lockdown of
Australia’s largest city as excessive.
She said police had initially
banned her event, even though it is not near the three-meter (nine
foot) fence that has been built through the middle of the city to
create an exclusion zone for visiting dignitaries.
“The police operation is
overkill,” she said. “I’m glad the police, albeit belatedly,
saw sense and allowed this peaceful event to proceed.”
The news conference went ahead
with the 21 mock lifeguards, many of them elderly, watched by about
30 police with a riot squad vehicle parked around the corner.
At nearby Hyde Park, which has
been the site for many of this week’s protests, the Solidarity
Choir belted out left-wing anthems to a crowd of about 60 faithful
who braved a steady drizzle to make their views heard.
Paul Murphy, from the Sydney
Peace and Justice Coalition, said numbers were down because of the
massive security operation.
“There’s been a series of
increasingly hysterical comments from the prime minister (John
Howard) and police that has led many people to think that they’ll
be arrested just for setting foot in the city,” he said.
The government declared a special
public holiday Friday to keep most people out of the center of town
as the presidents and prime ministers whiz about in huge motorcades.
The protests have mostly been
peaceful, but Murphy said there was a minor scuffle when some
pro-Bush demonstrators arrived.
--AFP
|
