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Protesters
wear giant fiberglass heads representing the G8 leaders outside of
the G8 summit site.
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ANNEMASSE,
France, May 31 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Riot police
used tear gas and batons on Saturday, May 31, to disperse
anti-globalization protestors demonstrating in a French town near the
site of the G8 Evian summit.
Up
to 800 protestors were pushed back by several hundred police officers
when they tried to block access to a meeting in Annemasse on
alternatives to globalization attended by a French Socialist party
delegation, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
The
protestors, who shouted anti-Socialist party slogans, later moved into
the center of this town on the French-Swiss border, where small groups
damaged some cars, police said.
The
Red Cross said several people needed medical treatment for the effects
of the tear gas.
The
forum was cancelled after the incident, a Socialist party spokesman
said.
An
organizer of the disrupted Annemasse meeting described those behind
the scuffles as a small group of “trouble-makers” that he had not
seen before in the tent villages hosting the demonstrators.
Members
of the Socialist party, as well former Danish prime minister Poul
Nyrup Rasmussen and a former culture minister from Mali, Aminata
Traore, had been due to take part in the forum.
"It's
sad, we had come for a debate of ideas, and a small group had to
resort to violence," said former French justice minister
Elisabeth Guigou, who had also been due to attend.
"However,
we maintain good relations with the anti-globalisers, the Socialist
party has its place in the anti-globalization debate," she added.
Tens
of Yhousands of anti-G8
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A
police officer guards a street in the city center of Geneva,
Switzerland, as part of security during the G8 summit
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Leaders
of the world's most powerful nations will converge Sunday, June 1st
, on the French Alpine resort of Evian to tackle global economic woes
and fears about international security, with transatlantic ties still
frosty over the war in Iraq.
Some
15,000 French and 10,000 Swiss security forces, backed by a fleet of
military aircraft, will patrol the lakefront spa town and the
surrounding area during the Group of Eight's annual summit, which runs
through Tuesday, May 3.
The
heads of state and government from the world's seven wealthiest
nations plus Russia come to Evian after a series of summits coinciding
with tercentenary celebrations in Russia's second city Saint
Petersburg.
G8
leaders traditionally use their annual summit to assess the state of
the global economy and make recommendations aimed at bolstering
worldwide growth.
But
despite fears about the faltering dollar, and the looming specter of
deflation, this year's gathering is more likely to focus on efforts to
put the acrimonious dispute over the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in the
past.
"Vive
la France”
The
war on Iraq split the G8 in two: Britain, Italy and Japan backed the
military offensive while Canada, France, Germany and Russia were
vehemently opposed.
The
row badly damaged U.S.-French ties and on Monday all eyes will be on
U.S. President George W. Bush and his French host Jacques Chirac when
they meet in Evian for their first one-on-one talks since the crisis
erupted.
In
Poland on Saturday, Bush sought to restore battered transatlantic
ties, saying the United States was committed to a strong alliance to
confront the "new enemy" of global terror.
"This
is no time to stir up divisions in a great alliance."
But
Bush's quick exit for an Arab-U.S. summit and to meet with the Israeli
and Palestinian prime ministers could upstage the G8 summit, shining
the spotlight on the rejuvenated U.S. role in the Middle East peace
process.
"In
the coming days, nothing serious will happen in Saint Petersburg or
Evian. The serious events will take place in the Middle East, where
George W. Bush will go as soon as he can free himself from his
obligatory stop in France," the French daily Le Figaro
said.
Paris,
for its part, has downplayed the significance of Bush's early
departure, and Chirac said Saturday in Saint Petersburg that he looked
forward to seeing the U.S. leader.
Bush,
despite voicing his "disappointment and frustration" at
France's anti-war position, said this week he was willing to move
beyond the Iraq crisis, ebulliently declaring, "Vive la
France".
G8
Agenda
Despite
lingering tensions over the war, Iraqi reconstruction will be high on
the G8 agenda, with the wider focus of the summit on international
security.
The
fight against terrorism, the Middle East peace process, weapons
proliferation in general and the North Korean nuclear crisis are all
hot-button topics on which the leaders are likely to find common
ground.
Chirac
also would like his G8 partners to make Africa a priority, addressing
problems like debt relief, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and access to clean
drinking water.
Bush
is expected to call on the rich nations' club to match US efforts to
fight AIDS after he signed into law a 15-billion-dollar
(13-billion-euro) plan to combat the disease in Africa and the
Caribbean.
A
"Multipolar" World
Meanwhile,
Chirac - determined to forward his vision of a multipolar world - has
invited leaders from a dozen emerging nations including Brazil, China,
India, Malaysia and South Africa for an "enlarged dialogue",
followed by talks with African leaders on the New Partnership for
Africa's Development (NEPAD).
leaders
of NEPADs and of Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Malaysia and Saudi
Arabia began arriving in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Saturday.
"The
Evian summit... should serve as an occasion to remind world leaders
about the imperative of honoring commitments in order to promote
global, peace, security... and sustainable development," Nigerian
President Olesegun Obasanjo said this week.
Mubarak
To Attend
Meanwhile,
President Hosni Mubarak left Egypt Saturday for the Group of Eight
suumit.
He
will promote Egypt's "point of view on the necessity of reaching
a peaceful, just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian
question" and the importance of keeping Iraq unified, Egypt's
ambassador to France, Hatem Seif al-Nasr, was quoted as saying by the
government daily Al-Ahram.
