About 3,000 demonstrators joined yesterday's march, mostly from overseas farmworkers' federations, aid organisations and revolutionary groups. Dozens of shops along the route had closed or pulled down their shutters for the day, but it was unnecessary. There was a cacophony of noise from Korean cymbals, Indonesian drums and chants in English and Chinese, but it was more like a multinational carnival than an anti-globalisation riot.The message, however, was serious. "Free trade is destroying the lives of rice and corn growers," said Tri-Heru Wardoya, a Sumatran farmer. "People in my village earn just $20 a month and use traditional methods ... How can they compete with rich international businesses?"
Locals, many of whom had recently taken part in huge pro-democracy rallies, said they were sympathetic. "If I were them, I'd probably do the same thing," said IT consultant John Chiu.
As at previous WTO summits, the security focus yesterday was on Korean farmers, who say they need to adopt desperate measures to protect their livelihoods and national culture. The Hong Kong security forces were well prepared. As well as a presence on the streets, dozens of riot police were bobbing up and down in dinghies, which one wag described as a "wall of rubber" in the waters around the conference centre.
But the Koreans used more humour than violence. Once they reached the protesters' containment zone, separated from the centre by a 100m stretch of water, they used protest flags as the walls for makeshift changing rooms, stripped off and donned their luminous lifejackets.
"My wife would kill me if she could see me," said one member of the Korean Peasants League. "I have no pants."
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