Police were forced to wield their batons again Tuesday to clear a path for delegates through a blockade by anti-globalization protesters at the World Economic Forum (WEF).
For the second straight day thousands of demonstrators laid siege to Melbourne's Crown Casino in an attempt to halt the three-day summit, attended by 850 international economic and political leaders.
Hundreds of officers backed by truncheon-wielding mounted police moved in on demonstrators who blocked all entrances to the casino from soon after first light.
The demonstrators claimed about 40 people were hit on the head by heavy-handed officers and warned this would anger groups opposed to the forum and prompt retaliation.
However, police said they had used reasonable force and made three arrests during the operation.
Protesters managed on Monday to prevent almost a quarter of the delegates and scores of journalists getting into the conference.
On Tuesday all 850 delegates managed to get in, although Microsoft's billionaire head Bill Gates was forced to cancel a meeting with 4,000 schoolchildren because police could not guarantee their security.
The ranks of the protesters were swelled Tuesday by 5,000 unionists who rallied against the exploitation of workers by multinational companies.
As the rally continued the leader of the country's union movement, Sharan Burrow, made an impassioned plea to the forum not to forget how globalization could disempower and alienate ordinary people.
Burrow, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), said unions were not opposed to globalization, economic growth or technology, but opposed to what she described as corporate-dominated globalization in which ordinary citizens do not matter.
The trade unionists later targeted a Nike store in Melbourne, saying the sporting goods giant exploits third world employees.
Inside the forum, Gates told delegates the poor would be losers if free world trade was blocked.
WEF communications director Charles McLean said all delegates and journalists had managed to get into the conference.
"Overall today it has been a good day for all of us," he said. "We're back on track as far as our meetings and sessions go.” -- MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP)
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