Fresh WTO protests in Hong Kong

Hong Kong: Over one thousand demonstrators chanting "Down down WTO" marched through Hong Kong on Sunday to protest against world trade talks after a night of vicious street battles between protesters and police.

Under the watchful eye of security forces, protesters began marching in mid-afternoon from a local park to an area near Hong Kong's convention centre, where ministers from nearly 150 countries were trying to hammer out a deal to lower barriers to world trade.

Several hundred other demonstrators, however, cancelled a planned march through the heart of the city a few km away and held a rally instead, with rock music blaring from a stage and people shouting anti-free trade slogans.

One organiser said police had warned them that they would be stopped if more than 100 people marched. Police had no immediate comment.

Protesters wielding bamboo sticks and metal poles broke through some police lines on Saturday as they tried to force their way into the harbour-front convention centre. Police used pepper spray, batons and fire hoses to try to beat them back.

At one point, a large section of the city's crowded Wanchai entertainment and office district was under siege and demonstrators came to within 30 metres (yards) of the convention centre before tear gas drove them back, Reuters reporters said.

About 114 people were sent to hospital with mainly minor injuries, including 39 police officers, the government said. All but four were treated and released.

Many of the injured were South Korean farmers and workers who say freer trade is putting them out of business.

Nine hundred protesters, mostly Koreans, were arrested, police spokesman Alfred Ma told a news conference on Sunday.

It was not clear if the figure included over 100 demonstrators who spent a chilly night huddling in the street near the convention centre, surrounded by riot police. Police herded the group into buses by early Sunday afternoon.

Asked repeatedly if the arrested protesters would be charged or deported, Ma said: "All those who have been arrested will be handled in accordance with the laws of Hong Kong."

The clashes were the heaviest since the WTO meeting began on Tuesday, but the fighting was less intense than that which marred the 1999 WTO conference in Seattle, the scene of huge and violent demonstrations against trade globalisation.