|
Police Tackle Demonstrators As Talks Open Ahead of Earth Summit
 |
|
A protester yells at a South African policeman during a demonstration in Johannesburg
|
JOHANNESBURG,
August 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - South African police
fired stun grenades Saturday, August 24, at around 500 protesters
during a march in Johannesburg against the upcoming U.N. Earth Summit
as diplomats held last-ditch talks in a bid to resolve disputes that
threatened to disrupt agreement on key issues.
In
the south of the country, Greenpeace commandos unfurled banners at
Africa’s only nuclear power plant to highlight their call for clean
fuel.
Police
arrested all 12 activists involved in the protest at the Koeberg
nuclear plant, 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Cape Town. They were
released later in the day and are due to appear in court on Monday,
August 26, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
In
Johannesburg, the march, involving protesters from around the world,
was proceeding peacefully when the police fired three grenades without
warning, claiming that the march was an illegal gathering.
The
marchers were chanting slogans against globalization, the summit and
the South African government.
One
man, believed to be a journalist, was arrested.
The
demonstrators, who said the summit promotes globalization, lit candles
and placed them around the policemen’s feet after the grenades were
fired, and burnt official summit pamphlets before retreating into the
campus of the University of the Witwatersrand.
Dale
McKinley, spokesman for the marchers said: “They can control a few
hundred. This is just a symbolic march, but watch what happens when
the masses come.”
According
to South African law, demonstrators must obtain permission to take
part in a legal march. Nine permits have been granted so far for
summit-related protests, AFP said.
“We
decided to retreat so we can mobilize another day,” one organizer
told the crowd.
Police
arrested more than 100 landless people on Wednesday and Thursday,
August 21 and 22, after they marched in Johannesburg to protest
against evictions from squatter camps. Some complained they were
beaten up.
The
World Summit on Sustainable Development is aiming to reduce poverty
around the globe while protecting the environment, but crucial
disagreements remain between rich and poor countries and between the
United States and Europe.
The
diplomats in Johannesburg, who represent more than 30 key countries,
met behind closed doors in a bid to resolve crucial disagreements on
following up Agenda 21, a plan for the 21st century produced at the
first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
It
aims to reconcile economic development, social progress and protection
of the environment, seen as the three pillars of “sustainable
development”.
The
diplomats’ meetings could continue until Tuesday, August 27,
alongside the official summit, officials said.
The
three main groups, Europeans, the United States and the G-77
developing nations, set up two working groups to study the most
explosive issues.
One
is looking at differences between industrialized and developing
nations on increasing official development aid and Third World
countries’ access to markets in developed countries.
The
second is studying governance, including efforts to combat corruption
and respect for human rights.
A
major disagreement is over objectives for poverty relief, which the
European Union says are indispensable, but which the United States
refuses to endorse, in line with its reluctance to enter into any new
multilateral deals.
The
aim of the plan is to reduce by half - by the year 2015 - the number
of people who lack access to clean drinking water, to slow the rate of
loss of natural resources and to phase out energy subsidies and boost
the global share of renewable energy sources to at least 15 percent by
2010.
One
source close to the talks told AFP that the final document might
exclude all references to official development aid and trade because
of a lack of agreement between rich and poor countries.
The
source said the developing countries realized they would not be able
to get Europe and the United States to go further than the promises on
aid made at a conference in Monterrey, Mexico, in March: to increase
their assistance in 2005-06 to 32.4 and 15 billion dollars
respectively (from 25 and 10 billion dollars in 2000.
The
developing countries are resisting efforts by the United States to
link the aid to good governance.
Both
the Americans and the Europeans meanwhile reject calls by developing
nations for them to reduce their huge subsidies to their farmers,
saying that would ruin their agriculture.
They
argue that subsidies can be discussed only at the World Trade
Organization.
|
