Protests in Mexico Offer G-8 Preview for Savannah

Submitted by corporate scum:

Protests in Mexico Offer G-8 Preview for Savannah

by Dan Chapman
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

MONTERREY, Mexico -- The latter-day revolutionaries started their anti-globalization processional Monday at Avenida Washington before wending their way past bemused schoolgirls, angered motorists and mortified shopkeepers.

Two hundred anarchists, Communists, environmentalists and fellow travelers, most bedecked in the de rigueur protest garb of black pants, T-shirts and face-shielding bandannas, halted whenever confronted with symbols of corporate America.

The Coca-Cola delivery truck on Avenida Benito Juarez now sports an anarchist "A" on its side. The nearby 7-Eleven was defaced with an undecipherable spray-painted message.

Mexican police had promised to brook no insubordination during the two-day Summit of the Americas conference that began Monday about three miles away. Yet the police also have a tradition of allowing protesters to exercise free speech rights as long as property and people aren't unduly harmed.

Both tactics were on display across this industrialized city of 1.1 million people just a two-hour drive from the U.S. border. Intensive security measures -- involving thousands of police, steel barricades and closed roadways -- insulated President Bush and the leaders of the hemisphere's 33 other democracies as they discussed poverty, terrorism and trade.

Those same topics will likely be on the agenda in June when Bush is joined by the leaders of France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Great Britain, Canada and Italy at Sea Island on the Georgia coast for the annual Group of Eight summit.

The same types of protesters will travel to Brunswick and Savannah to further voice their displeasure with administration policies that they contend benefits U.S. multinationals at the expense of the world's poor.

In recent days, police and protesters alike in Georgia have ratcheted up preparations for the June 8-10 summit.

Brunswick police began extensive training exercises Monday. Savannah authorities meet with federal summit planners this week to review parade ordinances and possible street closings.

Demonstrators gathered last week to map out weeks' worth of peaceable protests leading up to the summit along the coast.

"We've planned a parade, a festival, a rally and a concert," said Kellie Gasink, co-chair of the protesters' G8 Organizing Committee in Savannah. "We've submitted a plan [with the city], and they've actually been very encouraging."

Gasink estimates anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000 protesters will descend upon the Georgia coast in June.

Savannah officials worry less about the size of the planned protests than the troublemakers who'll likely come, too. They city has requested $9.5 million for police overtime costs, traffic control, telecommunications upgrades and other summit-related expenses.

"I know that our city and county forces will absolutely be prepared for this," said Chris Morrill, an assistant city manager in Savannah. "We've done a lot of research. We're really ahead of the curve, in terms of preparation."

Matt Doering, chief of the Glynn County Police Department, says his 108 officers will undergo specialized training to learn how to handle anarchists, gather intelligence, control crowds and more.

He could have picked up a pointer or two from his Mexican counterparts Monday. The northeastern state of Nuevo Leon has been on edge and in training for the Summit of the Americas for months.

"MONTERREY ON MAXIMUM ALERT!" the headline in the tabloid Hoy Extramex screamed last week. "THE GLOBAL-PHOBICS ARE READY TO ATTACK!" The city prepared for any terroristic or anarchistic eventuality.

Four public transit stations near the Arena Monterrey, where delegates were meeting, and in the hotel-heavy downtown area remained closed, as were many roads, bridges and underpasses. No planes or helicopters are allowed to breach the city's airspace.

Police are providing round-the-clock protection to key electric power stations and telephone exchanges. Bomb-sniffing black Labrador retrievers patrol high-security sites. Taxi drivers and hotel maids need picture identification tags to work in certain sections of Monterrey.

More than 4,200 federal, state and municipal police are patrolling the city. Journalists and delegates must pass through four checkpoints before entering the Arena.

"We won't be frightened," said Jose Domingo Ramirez-Garrido Abreu, the state's security chief. "We'll be prepared."