ADB Annual Meeting (Chiang Mai) (fwd)

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 08:21:36 +1000
From: Greg Young <greg@asia.anu.edu.au>
To: Australian Mekong Research Network <Mekong@anu.edu.au>
Subject: MEKONG: ADB Annual Meeting (Chiang Mai)


From: Ted Chapman <Ted.Chapman@anu.edu.au>
About: ADB's Annual Meeting (Chiang Mai, Thailand, 4-8 May)

AMRN Item 36/2000


The following report was published in the "Vientiane Times", 9-11 May
(Vol.7, No. 36). It is one of many reports published at the time in
the regional press and more widely.

"Thai Police Deploy in Force to Protect ADB Meeting"

"CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP)-- Riot police deployed in overwhelming
force Monday to protect the final day of the Asian Development Bank's
annual meeting from protesters demanding an end to policies they say
punish the poor and hurt the environment.  Tadao Chino, President of
the Bank, told a news conference that his schedule was 'too hectic' to
meet the demonstrators and sent them a new copy of (the) letter sent
to them a day previously, saying the ADB would form up a committee to
study their demands.

The 1,200 demonstrators, who say their livelihood is threatened by
ADB-funded infrastructure projects, burned it and accused the
Manila-based bank of stalling. They then lit off firecrackers and
started dispersing peacefully. Earlier, 2,000 police, many of them
bearing clubs and shields, took up positions at the entrances and
streets outside the Westin Hotel, which had been besieged Sunday by
4,000 people bulldozed through an outer perimeter of police
barricades.

Police took no chances Monday, allowing protesters to assemble across
the street while confronting them with a show of force aimed at
deterring more trouble. Brief pushing broke out at noontime, but there
was no violence.  Three fire trucks with water cannon were on standby,
parked next to fleets of Mercedes-Benz cars used by the delegates.

Weeraporn Sopa, 33,leader of (a) confederation of farmers from
Thailand's poor northeast, said the demonstration was building on the
protests he attended against the World Trade Organization last year in
Seattle. "I don't think the ADB will meet our demands, because it
would mean they would have to abolish themselves,' Weeraporn said.
'Our protest is a part of the world fighting against this kind of
organization, which catalyzes the growth of capitalism in Third World
countries. In the process. we poor have lost everything.'

Police Lt.Gen. Aram Chanpen also called the protests a success, saying
cooperation between police and the crowd had led to no violence or
destruction of property over the three-day meeting.

The protesters are mostly people who say their livelihood has suffered
because of ADB-funded projects, particularly dams that have displaced
farmers and fisherfolk and a mammoth wastewater treatment plant
planned for Klong Dan, near the capital, Bangkok.  They demand that
the ADB stop funding the Klong Dan project and cease loans that
increase the indebtedness of impoverished nations and worsen the
plight of farmers and the poor in the name of restructuring.

The Klong Dan villagers say they are unjustly paying the price for
extensive pollution caused by barely regulated industry that has
sprouted around Bangkok. The ADB contends that millions will benefit,
including the villagers who should get cleaner water. But officials
admit consultations beforehand were poor and have fueled the current
trouble.

The protesters have been inspired by a worldwide series of
demonstrations against multilateral economic institutions like the
ADB, perceived as arrogant and out of touch with people they profess
to help."  (quoted in full)








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