UNCTAD protests allowed

UNCTAD protests allowed

BANGKOK (AFP): Thai police chiefs promised on Wednesday to permit anti-globalization protests during a major United Nations trade summit here, despite earlier banning demonstrations near the venue.

National Police Chief Gen. Pracha Promnog said police were conducting a search for suitable sites for protests in areas which didn't inconvenience Bangkok citizens or disrupt traffic.

There are fears anti-globalization protesters may duplicate demonstrations which marred recent trade and economic talks in Seattle and Davos at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) which opens here next week.

Police vowed on Monday to keep demonstrators between 500 meters and one kilometer from the UNCTAD venue at a city center conference center where world leaders and delegates from more than 100 countries will be meeting.