OWN CORRESPONDENT, AFP and AP, Johannesburg | Wednesday
SECURITY guards at the Johannesburg offices of mining giant Anglo American sprayed about 150 demonstrators with pepper spray as they arrived to protest IMF and World Bank policies.
Their protest came as several hundred like-minded demonstrators clashed violently with police in Prague as the two financial institutions held a general meeting in the Czech capital.
Company representative Anne Dunn said security guards stopped the protesters when they tried to force their way into the foyer of the building and sprayed them with pepper spray after they assaulted security staff.
A glass door at the company’s downtown offices was also smashed.
Claire Ceruti, spokeswoman for the South African Communist Party, one of the organisers, said one protester received a blow to her head during the scuffle. She said Anglo American was targeted because like other multi-nationals, such as Coca Cola and Nike, “they are pushing their priorities on weaker countries”. An Anglo American executive later accepted a statement from the protesters.
In Prague, police are on guard outside the convention centre after demonstrators succeeded in disrupting the annual meeting.
Under coloured banners and in a festive mood, marchers defied a police ban and set off from downtown Prague for the centre, 1,5km away. The IMF and the Bank have been attacked for imposing harsh conditions on poor countries that borrow from them, conditions that force local authorities to divert resources away from health, education and the environment.
Delegates were trapped briefly inside the centre during the riot.
SA Finance minister, Trevor Manuel, who is chairman of the summit, said it was “a pity that it has descended into violence” but added it was unclear what the activists were seeking. “I know what they’re against but have no sense of what they’re for,” Manuel said.