The Wire

The largest protest planned for the weekend APEC summit was widely assumed by the mainstream media and police to be violent. It was on the basis of intelligence reports that it would turn violent that the police won a court action to divert protestors away from martin place and the US consulate. On the day it was a very different story – a range of participants took part, including families, school children people and older Sydney-seders. There was also a new right wing group wearing black masks, oddly out of place with the majority of protesters who were chanting anti-war, anti-globalization and anti-Bush slogans. Despite the 18 arrests, on the whole the event was largely peaceful.