Anti-WTO, Hong Kong (Dial-up warning)

[Poon]

On December 17 afternoon, thousands of representatives from farmers, fishers, workers, migrants, women’s, students and other civil society organizations marched from Victoria Park to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in a demonstration to protest against the destructive policies of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). At around 5.00 pm, they were stopped by the police, who used pepper spray, water hoses and eventually, tear gas, to disperse them. Many demonstrators were injured and some were hospitalized. After this, at least 900 demonstrators sat peacefully on Gloucester Road, singing songs and dancing, but were surrounded on all sides by the police in full riot gear for over ten hours. By 3.30 am this morning, the police started to arrest the demonstrators and the arrests are continuing into today. Reports from the legal support group and those arrested reveal that those kept on Gloucester Road were not allowed food, water and bathroom facilities; many were constrained in extremly painful handcuffs and some were even strip-searched.

HONG KONG, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Hong Kong police fought running street battles and fired volleys of tear gas on Saturday to repel hundreds of protesters trying to force their way into a building where world trade ministers were meeting.

Seventy-four people were injured in the fighting, including 12 police officers, the government said. Most of the injuries were minor and most of the injured were South Korean farmers and workers who say free trade is ruining them.

"The protesters got very close to the building, they were standing just across the street," a Reuters reporter said.

"They made several advances on police but pulled back a block or so after tear gas was used."

The clashes were the heaviest since the six-day World Trade Organisation meeting began on Tuesday and the worst violence in Hong Kong since protests following China's bloody crackdown on democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989.

But the fighting was less intense than that which marred the 1999 WTO conference in Seattle, which was the scene of huge and violent demonstrations against trade globalisation.

Nine hundred protesters were rounded up on one road in the area, Police Commissioner Dick Lee told a late-night news conference. Asked if they would be arrested, he said: "they will be handled according to the law."

"At the moment, the majority of areas in Wanchai are under control," Lee said. "Police will be taking all necessary action to restore order. We are fully confident the venue (trade meeting) can proceed as normal."

Some 1,000 protesters were involved in various street battles, facing off against twice as many police, Lee said.

Inside the convention centre, trade ministers were locked in talks into the night, trying to find an elusive world trade deal which critics say will hurt the world's poor. Journalists, delegates and policemen crowded round TV monitors watching the brawls outside.

Police said they had not yet decided whether another large demonstration scheduled for Sunday would be allowed to proceed.

At one point on Saturday, protesters seized metal barricades and used them as battering rams against the police, but police lines held and reinforcements pushed the protesters back.

TEAR GAS

Police fired numerous volleys of tear gas in the area near the building, Reuters correspondents said, and television showed officers bringing up what appeared to be armoured vehicles.

European and Japanese delegates were taken to the harbourfront centre by boat for late-night meetings as fighting raged.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to China in 1997. Lee said police had not asked the local Chinese army garrison for help and China's official Xinhua news agency ran only a short story saying order would be restored.

Protesters wielding bamboo sticks and iron poles began storming heavily fortified police lines in late afternoon, breaking through ranks of police who used pepper spray, batons and blasts of water from fire hoses to try to beat them back.

Some demonstrators put plastic wrap around their eyes while others donned goggles and surgical masks to protect themselves from the irritating spray.

Police sealed off large parts of the crowded Wanchai entertainment and office district and closed a nearby subway station to prevent protesters from moving around the area.

Early on Sunday morning, some seven hours after the fighting began, police moved in and started rounding up the last several hundred protesters who had been staging a sit-in in the area.

"We love Hong Kong," some of the demonstrators chanted as wary police encircled the group. "Down, down WTO."

Policewomen were the first to wade into the crowd, dragging some female protesters away one by one and packing them into police buses as remaining demonstrators started singing protest songs. Others walked quietly to the buses escorted by police.

It was not clear where the protesters were being taken. Earlier, police had told them they were under arrest.

Thousands of protesters from numerous anti-globalisation groups had taken to the streets in the early afternoon, handing pink and yellow roses to police officers manning barricades and releasing yellow balloons printed with "No, no WTO".

As numbers swelled, they began to push against police and probe their defences.

An estimated 10,000 anti-globalisation protesters converged on Hong Kong for the trade meeting, including about 2,000 South Korean farmers, workers and unionists, who have a reputation as the most militant anti-globalisation group in Asia.

The people handling cameras were from different media in the world but most of them were just like you and me, just took risk to take good shots and they bought all the equipments and they looked more professional than the Press.







Down Down WTO!




She is cute

Neither WTO nor Naked


















Marching in downtown CausewayBay

Police gazed at crowd with cold eyes

Downtown Causeway Bay


Standard equipments for D2X users. Are you ready?




Press and non-press gathered together, you cannot tell it apart

I was impressed by the word "PRESS" there and every body want to put it on his helmet




Asian TV News: here is Hong Kong not Iraq!






Public Service is not for sale

The building far away is Hong Kong Convention and Exibition Center where WTO conference was holding there, the protesters tried to break through the block by police to enter the building

" Fuck you WTO", a protester surprised a Hong Kong guy


A historical moment

The water came out from cannon was not freshwater but SEA WATER with pepper inside! One TV station lost three expensive video cameras during that day. The police was crazy and they pointed the water not only to protesters but also cammera men. I believe many cameras were damaged that day.


Anything can be a weapon




Hurted by pepper spray




Brave men. The camera is a machine gun on his hand

Hard job! Can't miss any single shot under the rain of salt water and pepper spray

WTO can be down, but red flag can't be down!

Took a break after the storm




Hong Kong volunteers helped to clean the eyes of Korean farmer hurted by pepper spray

Hong Kong students helped protester



Korean farmers cleaned the floor after they burned something and they gain respect and sympathy from Hong Kong people

Korean Farmer jumped to sea heading for Hong Kong Convention and Exibition Center where WTO conference was held but stopped by police. The temperature that day was 10 degree






A human-right observer vs riot police.
About 9000 Riot police blocked whole Wan Chai area




Wan Chai in motion


Wan Chai was a dead city, same thing happen 40 years ago when Communist Party lauched a riot againt police in 1967


The longest night in Hong Kong: Police ended Anti-WTO riots with volleys of tear gas; arrested 900 protesters at 3 a.m.

Poon still alive.

--------------
Regards
Poon

[digitor]

Powerful stuff, Poon! I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Excellent work.

Cheers

[sirhc55]

Some excellent shots there Poon - I like very much the shot of the police straight on - there is something quite fearful in their look

[fozzie]

Poon - very interesting and powerful shots. Thank you for sharing with us.

[rokkstar]

Excellent shots and great coverage Poon.

[Geoff]

Excellent images Poon, sad circumstances.
Well captured!! Thanks for posting.

[Manta]

Wow. Gripping stuff Poon. Must have been riveting to be there.

[BBJ]

Poon very powerful pictures that has been said, and i dont think i would like to have been in the middle of this, but well captured every shot telling it's own unique story.
Cheers
John
BBJ

[Slider]

Some amazing photos there Poon. Very scary I would imagine and you have done extremely well under the conditions.

[Glen]

Poon very impressive images! It looked rough on the TV here, but I have never seen Photo Journalist wearing helmets. I think you were brave to go and take those shots. Well done.

[johndec]

You Sir are a brave man and I congratulate you. Firstly for being there to record this event in all it's ugliness and secondly for having the courage to publish these images. After all, HK isn't run by the British anymore and the new masters may not be very happy at coverage such as this...

Well Done

[ipv6ready]

Poon very impressive images! It looked rough on the TV here, but I have never seen Photo Journalist wearing helmets. I think you were brave to go and take those shots. Well done.

Those South Koreans are tough bastards (I am South Korean). I remember doing a year of Uni in South Korea 10 years ago as exchange student. Forgot all about it, but I remember now the press was in impressive riot gear, full face mask, helmet and some kind of protection vest.

One thing I know the about south korea unions are big and powerful. It has the highest unionist workforce in Asia.

Great shots.

[Poon]

They are very strong and very organized and very powerful.
Korean farmers produced enough rice for the country but Korean government still import big quantity of rice from USA and price is only
30% of domestic price in Korea and many farmers are broken.

HK people don't know them before but this time understand them better and pay big sympathy to them.

----------------------
BBC News Sept 11, 2003



Mr Lee's suicide came on the opening day of the talks
A South Korean farmer has committed suicide during a violent demonstration against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Cancun.
Lee Kyung-hae, aged 55, stabbed himself in protest against WTO agricultural policies on Wednesday.



He was among hundreds of farmers from different countries, who staged angry protests at the sidelines of the trade talks.

According to the WTO, South Korea, like Japan, has a very protected rice market.

Its farmers are therefore keen to protect their generous government subsidies from being reduced under a more open market system.

"Mr Lee committed suicide after seeing how the WTO was killing peasants around the world," according to a statement by about 50 South Korean farmers.





According to witnesses, Mr Lee told other protesters at the demonstration: "Don't worry about me, just struggle your hardest," before stabbing himself in the heart with a knife.

He was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, but died nearly three hours later.

This was not the first time Mr Lee had taken part in global trade protests.

He staged a two-month hunger strike in front of WTO headquarters in Geneva last February, and he also plunged a knife into his stomach during the Uruguay trade negotiations in Geneva in 1990.

Mr Lee used to be the president of the Korean National Future Farmers Association, one of South Korea's main farming lobby groups.

The country's farmers vehemently oppose any opening of the agricultural market, or measures leading to a reduction in government support.

They demand the exclusion of the agricultural sector from all world trade negotiations, arguing that an open market would be a huge blow to South Korean agriculture.

Reforming global agriculture is one of the most contentious issues on the WTO summit's agenda, and there are deep divisions between the participating delegates.

Protesters argue that each country has a right to protect its food supply, and that farmers should not be forced to compete on a global level.

But others insist that large subsidies provide an unfair advantage to those farmers who receive them.


-------------
Regards
Poon

[ipv6ready]

I guess argriculture is a tough topic, no matter where you live, very heated and emotional topic especially if it is your lively hood.

South Korea is very divided in this issue of free trade. Last week Samsung became the fourth largest Asian company and the largest electronics company (today valued at 128 billion us dollars in comparison Sony is 41 billion us dollars). Japan has the same issues in regards to rice protection..

Samsung and other large conglomerates wants free trade - to sell abroad while farmers want total protection.

[birddog114]

Poon,
Very nice series of photo! you're brave enough to tag along these scenes.

I'll buy some helmets as worn by the photographers for the DSLRUSERS's members to wear if we have some riots here in the near future.

[gstark]

I'll buy some helmets as worn by the photographers for the DSLRUSERS's members to wear if we have some riots here in the near future.

Indeed; it's almost that bad here.

Poon, some truly great images here; well done, and thanx for sharing.

[nito]

They are a great series of shots. I have to hand it to the hk protesters for being very well prepared. In Oz, you just take off your shirt, grab a beer and you are ready to confront the police and assault people randomly.

[Matt. K]

Poon
Excellent coverage of the riot! These images are now historic and what happened can never be hidden from the public. That is their real power and the power of photography. The real experts there are those who have their cameras wrapped in plastic! They know what's coming next and they know it's not good for cameras....Gas and water cannon!

[Greg B]

Great shots Poon, thanks for sharing them with us.

I would love one of those crash helmets with "Press" on it.

Fantastic.

[stubbsy]

Poon

This is excellent and graphic coverage of an event I would not have the courage to go near. The most powerful image for me is the shot of the line of police front on to the camera, but it's an excellent set of PJ work overall.

[the foto fanatic]

Well done Poon - a virtual documentary for us.

[xerubus]

Very powerful images and well captured. The series tells a great story. Two thumbs up!

cheers

[joet]

Poon,
Excellent photojournalism - are you sure you haven't been a professional in the past

However, it saddens both Chryssine and I to see HK as host to this sort of violence, no matter how valid the cause

[SteveGriffin]

Rough times well captured. Happy that we don't yet need to wear crash hats and gas masks when going on a photo shoot in OZ.

Steve

[rokkstar]

Poon, I've just had another look at these and they are truly great shots.
You've captured an almost Orwellian big brother feeling for me. The shots of the police lines, especially the ones at night when they are wearing gas masks and one is looking at the camera are very distrubing (to me at least).

As Matt.K said, these photos are very powerful - excellent coverage once again.

[darb]

amazing scenes. Almost more amazing how the media are all prepared, the protestors and protectors seem to have a pre-arranged place to rumble, almost like its staged for a movie.



There is something very eerie & surreal about this photo, i cant put my finger on it. The low light and softness around left bottom and top may have something to do with it.

Glad you're in one piece

[Alex]

Poon, Excellent and interesting images.

Alex

[Mal]

WOW, what an amazing series of photos and what a read!
I suppose the "press" set the cameras to auto focus, must be impossible to see through a ski mask!!!!

[gstark]

Poon's just sent me a note letting me know that he's added some more images to his posting.

Because he edited his original post, it didn't bump the thread, so I'm doing that with this posting, and the advice to (a) revisit the first message in the thread, but (b) please be patient because there's a lot of images that are now being loaded.

I may get Leigh to split some of the image into a second thread, but my current thoughts are that these images form a contiguous set that tells a compelling story, and as such, the pain of the long download times might be one we have to bear.

Poon, again, thank you for sharing these with us. I love PJ images, and these are up there with the best of them.

[big pix]

great shots..... and well worth more than one look.........thanks

[Big Red]

WOW !!
so many pics of great quality ... extremely well done

[Alpha_7]

I don't think I can say anything that hasn't been said before, amazing real life photos, and brave honest story telling. Amazing images, just so powerful!

[Grev]

Fantastic photojournalism.

I'm from Hong Kong and I have never seen things like these while I was there... Although I do feel the resonance of their sadness, more power to them.

[LittleB]

Poon, great photos. Thanks so much for sharing with us. I really felt like I was there! Congratulations on POTW!

[Bernie (UK)]

Wow!!!! Amazing, Poon!
A dramatic selection which depicts the emotions of all involved in this event...reports reached thousands of miles away on this event, seen on TV and through newspapers as but no images appeared as dramatic as the images captured here showing demonstrators, officials an the press pack. Oce more Really nice work!!!!!!