Thousands protest at Summit
About 10,000 protesters marched from a squalid township to the glittering venue of the World Summit to press demands for everything from land redistribution to a Palestinian state.
Environmentalists, anti-globalisation protesters, social activists and Palestinian supporters danced, sang and shouted their way down the narrow streets lined with tin shacks and open sewers of Alexandra township in South Africa.
They past factories and warehouses, to the luxurious convention centre in the Sandton suburb of Johannesburg where the summit is taking place.
Police in riot gear lined up shoulder to shoulder across intersections along the way, as helicopters circled overhead. They were backed by soldiers in fatigues carrying machine guns and camouflage-painted armoured personnel carriers.
“What is this summit doing for us? It is providing for the rich, not the poor,” said Mathius Ledwaba, a vegetable seller from Johannesburg. He had a sign stuck to his cap reading: “Submarines, fighting jets, machine guns won’t fight unemployment and HIV/Aids.”
Many chanted anti-American slogans and carried banners portraying President George Bush as a “toxic Texan.” Others had signs attacking Israel and demanding “Osama: bomb Sandton.”
Intelligence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu later called some of the protest chants “unacceptable” and possibly “unconstitutional.” Hate speech is banned under South Africa’s constitution.
A speaker’s corner was set up within earshot of the summit venue, which was ringed with concrete barriers and barbed wire.
Activists from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Latin America climbed onto the back of a truck and shouted into a microphone to be heard over the clatter of low-flying helicopters, as a small group of protesters set fire to the Israeli flag.
They protested that the summit was doing nothing to fight poverty and preserve the environment, but refused to hand over their list of demands when a South African government minister arrived to receive them in the place of the president.
Later dozens of civic groups meeting at a forum running parallel to the summit took part in a smaller march along a similar route to submit their demands to world leaders.
Addressing a rally before that march, South African President Thabo Mbeki attacked “global apartheid,” which he said divides the rich and poor.
“We must liberate the poor of the world from poverty,” said Mbeki, calling on the smmit to set clear timetables for reaching its goals.
Mbeki also spoke out in favour of a Palestinian state and called for the lifting of the US embargo against Cuba.
Farouk Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s political department, told the rally that Israel had destroyed his country’s infrastructure and was crushing its people.
“Peace, security, stability and respect for human rights are essential for achieving sustainable development,” he said.
Later, Israeli Foreign Ministry official Mark Sofer complained marchers were “propagating terrorism and murder.”
The rally also featured anti-apartheid music and dancing, as well as vendors selling ice cream and snacks _ to the dismay of some protesters.
“This carnival atmosphere is not for us,” said Suddley Van Dawson of Johannesburg, who came to support the Palestinians. “We are here for a different cause.”
After the march, the protesters handed a memorandum to South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, demanding reform of the World Trade Organisation, and an end to export subsidies and to the war on terror.
South African authorities said both marches went off without incident, though one marcher was rushed to the hospital after suffering a heart attack, police said.
“It’s a wonderful day for South Africa,” said Essop Pahad, a Cabinet minister.
“Today’s events are a shining example of the democratic values that exist in our country and the freedom that our people have to express themselves.”
