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Burning chillies mark anti-WTO protests in Asia

Hundreds of Thai farmers burned chillies in protest against the World Trade Organisation on Friday, but other anti-globalisation protests were small in Asia and mixed with an anti-war message ahead of WTO talks in Qatar.

The sombre atmosphere created by the war in Afghanistan and September's attacks on the United States has helped prevent a repeat of the violence that hampered the 1999 WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle and other recent international gatherings.

It has also helped keep the number of protests in Asia small as delegates from 142 countries gather on Friday in the oil-rich Gulf state for the five-day meeting, where big powers hope to launch a new round of global trade talks.

India saw the biggest demonstration as thousands marched through the centre of New Delhi to protest against the WTO meeting and US-led air strikes on Afghanistan in a demonstration organised by India's ultra-left Communist Party.

"Down with World Trade Organisation. Indian government -- leave the WTO," the protesters shouted. "Save agriculture, stop the WTO and save us from hunger," shouted one of its leaders.

"Down with American imperialism. Stop the bombing in Afghanistan. Take back American forces from Afghanistan," the protesters also shouted as thousands of red-flags fluttered under bright sunshine.

Police in riot gear put up barricades to stop protesters from marching towards parliament and water cannon were on standby.

About 500 protesters, including 400 from leftist South Korean trade unions and 100 unionists from 16 countries, marched in Seoul on Friday, scuffling briefly with riot police in an otherwise peaceful protest.

"We oppose the Fourth WTO ministerial meeting, which is trying to start a new round to uphold only the interests of the United States and countries of the centre," said a statement issued at the march.

"Trade liberalisation and opening aggravates the gap between rich and poor worldwide and destroys the economic base of every country," it said.

SMOKE SIGNALS

In Thailand, about 1,000 protesters, mostly farmers, held a peaceful two km march from Bangkok's World Trade Centre shopping mall to the US Embassy on Friday to condemn Washington and its leading role in the WTO.

Demonstrators blocked part of an eight-lane road in central Bangkok and shouted anti-globalisation and anti-US slogans on various issues -- from expensive patented AIDS drugs to farm subsidy schemes.

The protest was highlighted by a traditional Thai "cursing ceremony" directed at the US government where protesters burned chillies in a frying pan, filling the air with eye-stinging smoke.

Rain marred a protest in Tokyo's Shinjuku entertainment district where about 200 people handed out pamphlets reading "No to globalisation that expands the gap between rich and poor!"

Another said: "Stop an expansion of gaps between rich and poor, oppression of human rights, child labour, terrorism".

Negotiators at the WTO ministerial conference, held under a blanket of tight security in Doha, the Qatari capital, hope to agree on a new round of global free trade talks to begin early next year, something they failed to do in Seattle in 1999.

On Saturday, Hong Kong's Confederation of Trade Unions plans to march to China's Foreign Ministry building when WTO ministers are due to approve China's entry into the WTO.

"We want to ask Beijing to be mindful to the needs of its workers and the poor," said a spokeswoman at the confederation.

A few representatives of the Solidarity and Resistance to Globalisation, an alliance of 21 local Hong Kong groups, will join in, said Yuen Hoi-yan, spokeswoman for the alliance.

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