Diary Notes on WTO M6 - the View from Gloucester Road

Diary Notes on WTO M6 - the View from Gloucester Road
Brid Brennan
TNI Website, 19 December 2005

HONG KONG - Saturday December 17 - We kept vigil on Gloucester Road with about 1,000 farmer demonstrators occupying this main thoroughfare within shadow of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center where the WTO 6th Ministerial was tottering towards its inconclusive end.

Earlier in the afternoon about 3,000 farmers had marched from Victoria Park to the Convention Center, determined to bring their protest into the WTO Ministerial Conference. According to the La Via Campesina Press Release "we were stopped by the Hong Kong riot police as we attempted to open the gates of isolation behind which WTO Trade negotiators are deciding our fate…our purpose was to go to the WTO negotiators to deliver our message of despair and difficult conditions of our lives…The WTO wages institutional violence on farmers. Its policies cause daily death and destruction in our rural communities all over the world ".

Using road blocades, water cannon, pepper spray and tear gas, the Hong Kong police violently dispersed the demonstration. As a consequence, the demonstrators decided to stage their protest sit-in. Thousands of police blocaded the whole area and refused any food or blankets to be brought on to Gloucester.

Sunday December 18 - We held a vigil through most of the night at Kwun Tong District Court where an estimated 200 farmers were being held. An international delegation accompanied by Hong Trade unionists and lawyers went to the prison to try to find out which prisoners were being held where. Our repeated attempts requesting information on names of detainees and places of detention were regularly refused. We were finally told that 120 women detainees would be released. At 3.00 am, the second and last bus full of women was driven out while we were prevented from any contact with the detainees by a cordon of police. Even the Catholic Bishop of Hong Kong, who joined the vigil at midnight was refused access to a Korean priest and 2 nuns being held in the prison. However the police could not silence our voices from echoing the farmers chant of "Down Down WTO" in the cold Hong Kong night - chants in Korean, Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, Tagalog, Bahasa and English.

Monday December 19 - Our dialogue with Hong Kong government's Chief of Security: was led by Honduran Rafael Alegria, International Affairs Co-ordinator for La Via Campesina. Alegria re-iterated the conviction of the farmers of their legitimate right to protest and underlined the fact that ending the detention of the farmers immediately was a question of political will. Our demands to the Chief of Security and to the Hong Kong government included:

• Unconditional release of all detainees
• Protest at the 'incomunicado' detention of the farmers, who have not had access to lawyers, interpreters or communication with family
• Immediate attention to the health of the detainees, some of whom are seriously ill.
• Strong protest at the inhumane treatment of a Spanish farmer, suffering from severe bronchitis. Although removed to hospital, this detainee was kept in handcuffs while taking oxygen
  However, there are fears that some farmers may be charged and prosecuted if the Hong Kong government so decides.

Urgent Action

La Via Campesina is requesting Protest & Solidarity Letters to be sent to the following:

Mr. Donald Tsang
Hong Kong Chief Executive
Fax :(852) 2509 0577
E-mail : ceo@ceo.gov.hk

Mr. Pascal Lamy
Director General WTO
Tel: (41-22) 739 51 11
Fax: (41-22) 731 42 06
email: enquiries@wto.org

Mr. Ambrose S K Lee
Secretary for Security
Tel: 2810 2712
Fax: 2877 0636
Email: sbenq@sb.gov.hk