A Platform for Protest
June 7, 2004
From Birmingham to Evian, Seattle to Davos, wherever leaders from the leading industrial nations get together to discuss economics and politics, protests and marches are never far away. In the last five years, the number of demonstrations has grown as anti-globalization activists swelled the ranks of local peace rallies. The level of violence has also increased, culminating in violent street clashes and the death of a protestor in Genua, Italy, in July 2001.
DW-WORLD has put together a chronology of the biggest protests in the last five years.
May 1998, Birmingham: protesting for the poor
Some 50,000 protestors descended on the British city during the two-day G-8 summit from May 15 to 17. Organized by "Jubilee 2000," a coalition of British development groups and charities, they demonstrated for debt forgiveness for the world's poorest countries.
June 1999, Cologne: Christians for peace
A year after Birmingham, the double summit of the G-8 and the European Union took place without any major protests. Around 40,000 peace activists, coordinated by the leftist "Aktionsbündnis Köln 99" (action group for Cologne) and Christian organizations gathered in the city on the Rhine River for various demonstrations.
November 1999, Seattle: globalization escalates
The conference of the World Trade Organization in the northern Pacific city marked the first of several major anti-globalization protests. More than 50,000 international protestors from labor unions, environmental groups and human rights watchdogs took to the streets in the name of fair trade between the industrial world and developing countries. After violent clashes with police and security forces broke out, the city declared a state of emergency and issued a curfew. Protestors were arrested, the police were allowed to use tear gas and shoot rubber bullets in actions the demonstrators said violated their right to freedom of expression. Anti-globalization became the buzz word for the duration of the conference and has since established its presence on the sidelines of every WTO and G-8 meeting.
April 2000, Washington: the world breathes easily again
From April 16 to 18, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank met in the U.S. capital. But despite being the primary targets of anti-globalization critics, the conferences took place without unrest. After the experience in Seattle, the city was braced for dealing with angry protests and violence. Instead, only 20,000 protestors turned out for peaceful demonstrations.
September 2000, Prague: numerous arrests
Although only 9,000 demonstrators gathered in the Czech capital for the joint meeting of the World Bank and the IMF, the protests erupted into violence, and the police cracked down, arresting several people.
December 2000, Nice: fighting globalization
The EU summit in the southern French city started peacefully with some 4,000 anti-globalization activists protesting in front of the downtown congress center. Later, however, the demonstrations erupted into street clashes.
January 2001, Davos: World Economic Forum
The annual meeting of business leaders, economic think tanks and heads of state offered a traditional protest platform for anti-globalization activists. Massive police contingents, however, successfully prevented 1,300 demonstrators from sabotaging the 31st World Economic Forum in the exclusive Swiss ski retreat.
May 2001, Quebec: street battles on the sidelines
From May 20 to 23, the Canadian city staged the third America summit. The meeting of the pan-American Free Trade Association was accompanied by 25,000 demonstrators. The largely peaceful protests were occasionally interrupted with street clashes with the police.
June 2001, Gothenburg: vandals lay waste to downtown
The EU summit on June 15 and 16 attracted more than 20,000 protestors to the Swedish city. Although the majority of them were peaceful, some 700 vandals destroyed downtown, turning the city center into a battlefield between police and angry protestors.
July 2001, Salzburg: violent minority
About 300 people were to blame for turning the World Economic Forum on Eastern Europe into a violent uprising after a peaceful rally kicked off the Austrian conference with a positive note.
July 2001, Genua: death casts shadow over G-8
The G-8 summit on July 21 and 22 rocketed the Italian city to the nightly news after a protestor was brutally beaten and killed during the worst clashes between anti-globalization activists and police in the Group of Eight's history. The images of street battles, burning cars and vandalized cafes cast a long shadow over the conference and left a stronger impression than the actual political agenda.
May 2002, Kananaskis: peaceful mountain retreat
The Canadian Rockies were the site of the 2002 G-8 summit. Selected for its remote location, which consisted of not much more than an exclusive hotel, Kananaskis was easily sealed off from protestors and patrolled by a huge contingent of police and military. Demonstrations took place 80 kilometers away in Calgary.
June 2003, Evian: protesting out of country
Last year's G-8 summit was hosted by France, whose president, Jacques Chirac, selected the location on Lake Geneva because it could be easily secured. The demonstrations -- at times violent -- took place in the nearby Swiss town of Geneva, where numerous international organizations such as the U.N. and WTO have headquarters.