By DPA
Sydney : Anti-war protesters were confined behind a 5-kilometre steel fence Tuesday as Australia’s largest city went on high alert for the arrival of US President George W. Bush for this week’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings.
Bush, who flies in after a whistle stop visit to Iraq, is the first leader of the 21 APEC forum countries scheduled to arrive in the city. The meeting has items like climate change and reviving the stalled Doha Round of global trade liberalization talks on top of the agenda.
He has lined up private talks with the leaders of Australia, Japan, South Korea, Russia and possibly Indonesia before leaving Saturday.
Around 150 anti-war protesters were outnumbered two-to-one by riot police when they gathered at Sydney’s biggest railway station to chant “Israel, USA – how many kids have you killed today?” and other slogans.
A foretaste of demonstrations that will culminate in a march by up to 15,000 people on Saturday came hours before Air Force One was expected to touch down.
“These people aren’t out to just stand on the sidelines,” Stop Bush Coalition spokesman Alex Bainbridge promised. “We will not be intimidated.”
Prime Minister John Howard, this year’s APEC host, urged demonstrators to ponder the grouping’s achievements since it was set up in 1989.
“If they are so concerned about world poverty, why don’t they stop for a moment and recognize that economic growth of the APEC region has lifted tens of millions of people out of poverty since APEC was founded?” he said.
Howard, a close friend of Bush, who was quick to pledge troops for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, urged protesters to eschew violence and not force the hand of the 3,000 police and 1,500 troops who have locked down the city centre and barricaded venues with 2.8-metre concrete-and-steel fencing.