Mexico braced for week of WTO protests

Police set up chain-link barricades and warships patrolled off Cancun’s famed white-sand beaches as the Mexican resort braced for massive protests at a week long meeting of the World Trade Organisation.

Some 4,700 delegates from the WTO’s 146 member nations were meeting for five days starting today to try to break the deadlock in the current round of trade liberalisation negotiations as rich and poor nations face off over agricultural subsidies.