'4- North Shore News — Friday, December 3,

From page

_It took awhile, but soon I was drawn back into the fray. The tactics of the protest- crs were ‘to create iruman chains and logjams of people to keep the delegates away trom their meetings — and it worked the first day. All the official mectings were. can- celled.

‘But behind each ‘of the human chains was another kind of chain thar. was still quite human if you looked closely.

_The lines of police. were dressed in gas masks and he!- ‘mets. with their visors down so only their eyes: were. visi- ble. ;

‘They wore black - armour: from head to: toe. There ‘was nothing on their body: to’ identify. who: they “were. They were backed up '. by: imposing armoured 5 Pere . sonnel carriers. : ” DL “wondered. what. they - were: thinking, as they stood

sively for: hours in their own an chain.:

few had’ fogged up their visors in .

ervousness and: you. could ‘sce “sweat .on some of their: faces. a

the: p there were no‘defections:

of p

In the morning, when the police were

still crying to clear the strects to get some of. the lelegates ‘to

|, the. word to disperse t

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observers and the plethora ‘of television cameras coon put an end to that.”

Later in the day, I heard that sume of the tear gas’atracks. were caused. by rowdy crowds throwing sticks or bottles at the police, but they were also some-

'. times carried out without any obvious

_) When the sun went down the scene / Was straight out of a sci-fi flick. ;

lice. were ie groups black-

At five 0 "clock, the

ing, each street corner. . Without. warning, cach of the ar: ‘cas

had'a half dozen canisters of tea gas” thrown at them sequentially. '. ° And when the crowds retreated, the °

police marched forward through . the white smoke in ¢ ¢ darkness to reclaim another. corncr.

.. They’ did this for about an hour, until

ven.

Photo ‘Anna-Loulse Pentiand

RIOT police watch protesters during demonstrations at the World Trade Organization conference in Seattie.

the majority of the crowds were dis- persed. Shouts of “Nazi” and “Do you think

‘your children would be proud of you

now?” echoed in the strects.

Some protesters threw objects at the police, but most just made peace signs . or simply left shaken.

:There ‘were rumoured to be .200 anarchists in the group, breaking win- dows and spray-painting all day and gen- erally ‘undermining the credibility of the

‘majority of the protesters.

‘This group was also. dressed black

“and had covered their faces with black -kerchiefs. .The destruction continued on- into »

the night, with-others jeining in, until finally a state of emergency was declared just after eight o’ciock and the. National Guard was callcd i in.

che hadn’t been on ‘a. march since 1962.

Radicals got = most coverage

From page 1

other downtown retailers. :

Tuesday night's live television coverage showed a number of young people making off with looted televisions and electronic equipment.

Washington’s state governor immediately imposed a 7 p.m. to dawn curfew that will remain in effect in Seattle for the rest of the conference.

Three distinct groups took part in the day’s events, said Adams: labour leaders and unionists, “fringe” groups who “attached — themselves to the demonstration to create controv ersy,” and final- ly those who “weren't even around during the day. They just wait- ed for police activity so they could ; start looting.”

Said Adams, “The radical. aspects of the day got 95% of the | coverage — 40,000 people walked through Seattle without any inci- dent.”

Added Morissette, “Despite what was portrayed on TV, the protest was very peaceful and the atmosphere was very unified —

almost happy.” Said IInyckyj, “The media placed too mach emphasis on the unfortunate violence that erupted. This was a protest against'a dan- gerous organization that violates the rights of people and govern- ments in order to blindly pursuc the purposes of profit and trade, without examining the conse- quences that their actions are having on peoples’ lives and the environment.” . : : - “For anyone that thinks i it was all rabble- using groups, Adams, “far from it. There were 1,000 machinists walking beside us, is, keeping the crowd in an orderly manner, I knew nothing of the . I didn’t see any riot polic That all appened yell before’ fora er we were there.” : He. did, however, have a plan in. place had viol

“The radical . aspects of the”. day got 95% of the coverage. 40,000 people

’ while the group were still in Seattle. “The boys knew. what to ¢

if things turned nasty.” ee Although Adams admiis to being a bit of an activist, ; “Te was when i

McDonald report came out, We marched from. UEC to down: town Vancouver i in support of better er finding for universities.”

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