5,000 rally in Sapporo ahead of G-8 summit; 4 arrests made
SAPPORO —
Four men, including a Reuters cameraman, were arrested Saturday after scuffles with police during a joint rally held by various groups including nongovernmental organizations to call for peace and the elimination of growing gaps between rich and poor ahead of the Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido.
Organizers estimated that 5,000 people from around 30 countries joined the rally in Odori Park and nearby streets, chanting slogans such as ‘‘We oppose the G-8 summit’’ and banging drums.
Some demonstrators clashed with police when riot police officers surrounded a truck when it stopped in the middle of the rally.
After the police unsuccessfully asked the driver to get out, the truck suddenly backed up, hitting a line of police officers.
An officer then broke a window of the truck with a baton and shouted, ‘‘Get rid of the driver.’’ The driver was eventually taken away by the police.
Police said they arrested the four men, including a 48-year-old Japanese cameraman of Reuters’ video news section, in Odori Park and nearby streets on suspicion of obstructing police officers in the performance of their duty.
Gustave Assah, who heads the Civic Commission for Africa, told the rally that the G-8 countries are responsible for destroying the environment.
Akiyoshi Ishida, representing the organizers, said, ‘‘The G-8 nations have failed to fulfill their responsibilities, leading to unabated discrimination, war and environmental destruction. We’d like to further promote NGO activities with the aim of creating a new world.’‘
The demonstrators proceeded along a 2-kilometer route from Odori Park to Nakajima Park in the city for around two hours until 5 p.m.
Meanwhile, international farmers’ group La Via Campesina issued a statement the same day protesting against the refusal of entry to Japan of 19 South Korean members of the group at New Chitose Airport near Sapporo on Thursday.
‘‘We demand that all the farmers, workers and other activists detained at Sapporo airport be allowed to join the civil society activities parallel to the G-8 summit,’’ the statement said.
The G-8 leaders — from the United States, Japan, Russia, France, Britain, Canada, Italy and Germany — begin a three-day summit on Monday. The top issues are expected to be global warming and soaring oil and food prices.
Demonstrators demanded that G-8 nations take urgent measures to stop global warming, grant indigenous people greater rights, combat world poverty and battle discrimination.
Protesters also criticized globalization, which they blamed for deepening poverty in marginalized regions, fueling the world dependence on fossil fuels and accelerating the damaging rise of world temperatures.
“Who gave the Group of Eight the right to rule the world?” asked Walden Bello of the activist group Focus on the Global South. “The G-8 is a conspiracy of governments that have led the world to its most severe crisis in the last 50 years.”
Wire reports
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15 Comments
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some14some
Good weather condition in Sapporo may have invited large gathering for Happy Weekend. The real NGO speakers are either detained or deported so i do not think world is prepared for creating a new world yet.
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nandakandamanda
It must be really cold in Sapporo. Some of the demonstrators are wearing hoodies and ski masks, nice and warm and very fashionable in Japan.
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timeon
>
stop global warming, combat world poverty
great, any ideas? go home and do something that matters, hippies
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Mark_McCracken
5000 people? Other reports are 1000 to 2000. How can there be such differences in the numbers?
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roomtemperature
"The real NGO speakers are either detained or deported....."
The summit is in Japan, some14some. Not in China!
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medievaltimes
I guess I would rather have the United States, Japan, Russia, France, Britain, Canada, Italy and Germany decide the fate of the world rather than Brazil, Finland, Mexico, Iceland, Mongolia, Egypt, Turkey and Denmark.
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medievaltimes
Critics assert that the empirical evidence does not support the views of the anti-globalization movement. These critics point to statistical trends which are interpreted to be results of globalization, capitalism, and the economic growth they are purported to encourage. Specifically, the following are common claims made by critics:
--The decrease in the percentage of people in developing countries living below $1 per day (adjusted for inflation and purchasing power), which has halved in only twenty years.
--The world income per head has increased by more over period 2002-2007 than during any other period on the record.
--The doubling of life expectancy in the developing world since WWII.
--The increase in universal suffrage, from no nations in 1900 to 62.5% of all nations in 2000.
--There are similar trends for electric power, cars, radios, and telephones per capita as well as the percentage of the population with access to clean water.
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haytkayokomiya
Are they stupid? Due to the fact that there were 7 people killed in a crowd, I don't think this is the time to be messing with the NSP.
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warispeace
To assess the impact of the latest phase of globalization, consider the employment and income conditions in Japan: a growing percentage of non-regular workers and a growing income gap. Luckily we can always get a free smile at the golden arches.
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timekiller
"After the police unsuccessfully asked the driver to get out,..."
-"Please are you be out?" -"It is removing one's, OK?" -"Does it not come off seating?"
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blvtzpk
Was this a Japanese police officer, or Tony Soprano?
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feffrey
Now if only they would provide the same kind of vigilance to the uyoku protests that take place on a daily basis in the neighborhood of the Diet with soundtrucks at four times the volume they should be. "Get rid of the driver" never sounded so compelling.
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sk4ek
None of the statistics quoted by 'medieval times' does anything to prove a connection between the globalization of economic and labor markets and 'improving' world conditions.
The number of people living on less than $1 may have dropped, but that does not mean their lives are any better if they have only gone to living on $1.01.
World income per head is also a meaningless average when most of the real income growth is in developing or developed nations, and restricted to the top 1~5% of income earners at that.
The doubling of life expectancy (where???) since World War II can hardly be attributed to the globalization trend of the last 30 years, when hundreds of millions still have no access to clean water or adequate health care.
I don't see how globalization has helped to promote universal sufferage, except perhaps to the extent it forces more countries to modernize their political structures in order to take part in the new economic order. Again, the move to universal sufferage has been going on for long before globalization was ever an issue.
Worldwide, 20% of the population has no access to clean water. In China alone, more than 325 million people have no reliable, safe water source. Access to technology may be improving in some parts of the world, but thus far it has shown little potential for closing the gap between the desperately poor and the rest of the population.
Apologists for the actions of developed nations enjoy pulling figures out of the air (and sometimes out of real reports and studies, but only selectively), expecting people to take them at face value. I think real life evidence--and numbers--often show that globalization shifts more resources out of developing nations and into the hands of the G8 and other developed countries, than it leaves behind in benefits.
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Mark_McCracken
Japan's life expectancy has done pretty well. 45 in 1935. Over 80 today.
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wilbur
it has never been proven that giving poor people money makes them less poor, in the long run
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