PrepCom boycotters hit the street

PrepCom boycotters hit the street

A policeman (above) stands guard as a Greenpeace activist displays a poster during a rally in front of the Bali International Convention Center.

Greenpeace is promoting the slogan "Reclaim the earth" at their rallies in Bali, while other non-governmental organization activists rallied in other places inside the sprawling Nusa Dua hotel complex and campaigned for a boycott of the preparatory committee (PrepCom) meeting on sustainable development in Bali, as few, if any, of the delegates actually had environmental issues as there agenda in favor of trade and debt concerns.

Various demonstrations representing various non-governmental organizations such as laborers, women and an anti-globalization student group called the UN meeting a farce.

Laborers said they would reject any outcome of the Bali meeting and boycott the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, later in August and September.

The women's group lamented the fact that average people had no say in the final round of discussions of the Bali Commitment.

And the anti-globalization group stated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO) were capitalists.

Police and Balinese traditional security guards or pecalang mostly outnumbered the protesters who were denied access to the Bali International Convention Center (BICC) where the UN meeting was being held.