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HONG KONG - Protesters opposed to lowering trade barriers swung bamboo sticks at police Saturday and tried to storm a convention center where World Trade Organization delegates were negotiating a global accord on farming, manufacturing and services. At least 70 people were injured.
Security forces scattered the crowd with tear gas and pepper spray, and 900 people were detained after the worst street violence in Hong Kong in decades. The injured included 10 police officers.
The protesters included South Korean farmers, Southeast Asian groups and activists from the United States and Europe. They are concerned that WTO efforts to open up global markets will enrich wealthy nations at the expense of poor and developing countries.
Hours later, as many as 400 people staged a sit-in on one of downtown Hong Kong's busiest streets. Police told the demonstrators they would be arrested and began dragging them away.
Negotiations between the WTO's 149 member nations and territories continued inside the convention hall largely uninterrupted, chief WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said.
With the meeting ending today, negotiators made only incremental progress on reducing trade barriers in services, manufacturing and farming.
The Hong Kong meeting was originally meant to produce a detailed outline for a global free trade agreement by Dec. 31, 2006. However, the European Union is refusing to open its agricultural markets any further until developing nations offer to lower their trade barriers to industrial goods.
Overnight talks were sure to focus on the contentious proposal to end export subsidies by 2010 - an issue that could make or break the entire gathering.
At one point, activists broke through police lines and came close to storming the WTO's harborside meeting venue. The police fought back with clubs, pepper spray and water cannons that sprayed a chemical mixture that burned the skin and eyes.
"The use of tear gas was too violent," said Elizabeth Tang of the Hong Kong People's Alliance on WTO. Tang, whose group has organized marches, said there had been some discussion about calling off today's march, which was meant to be the largest so far.
Developing nations have been pushing for the elimination of European subsidies for exports, saying they undercut their farmers. But the EU has refused to specify a date for ending those subsidies.
In a victory for West African cotton growers, the draft calls for rich nations to end export subsidies for cotton in 2006. This represents a U.S. concession to African claims that government support for farmers in rich countries is driving many poor farmers out of work.
After trade deal talks collapsed at previous summits, the WTO's credibility would be dealt a serious blow if negotiators cannot reach an agreement.
"There will be a heavy responsibility on anyone who lets this chance slip away," Rockwell quoted WTO chief Pascal Lamy as telling delegates.