Australia braced for May day protests

Police increased security and deployed riot squads in major Australian cities today as left-wing activists vowed to shut down big business by besieging stock exchanges and major companies on May Day.

The M1 group, whose members disrupted a World Economic Forum meeting in Melbourne last year, said tens of thousands of people will try to shut down financial districts across Australia tomorrow. M1 is short for May 1, a traditional workers’ holiday.

The coalition of left-wing political groups, environmentalists and labour unions said it wanted to stop money pouring into stock markets. Instead, it said, money should go to schools, childcare centres and debt relief for poor countries.

The protest will target stock exchanges, Prime Minister John Howard’s Sydney office, the World Bank, Nike, fast food giant McDonald’s and mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP Ltd.

Police warned demonstrators any violence will be swiftly dealt with.

‘‘We have enough numbers, enough resources, to meet any contingency,’’ said Victoria state police commander Leigh Gassner in Melbourne.

‘‘We have explained to the organisers that we respect their right to demonstrate but we will not be tolerating any criminal damage, violence or major disruption to the community,’’ he said.

Police in Sydney said they would have specialist negotiators on hand to deal with any trouble.

‘‘We are not going there with the stated ambition to take on the demonstrators, to stop them from protesting, or to quell free speech,’’ police commander Dick Adams said.

‘‘However, if things happen and it escalates, we will have sufficient police resources on hand to make sure that we can handle the situation.’’