Home > International Campaign for the Immediate Release of WTO Political Prisoners

International Campaign for the Immediate Release of WTO Political Prisoners

by Open-Publishing - Saturday 7 January 2006

Demos-Actions Movement Trade-Exchange Rates International Prison

(Sponsoring organizations: Korean Struggle Mission---Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Korean Peasants League, and Korean Catholic Farmers Association---Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, Hong Kong People’s Alliance, and Via Campesina)

Background

During the 6th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference that was held in Hong Kong from December 13 to 18, 2005, thousands of participants representing trade unions and labor rights groups, peasant’s, civil society, migrant rights, and women’s organizations, and social movement organizations participated in a series of peaceful protests, rallies, and other actions to protest the WTO and its impact on workers, farmers, and people all around the world, specifically in developing countries.

On the eve of the conclusion of the WTO Ministerial meetings (December 17), these groups realized that despite their many efforts, to express their concerns and have their voices heard, the so-called representatives of the people continuously refused to listen. Government officials and trade analysts had cloistered themselves in the convention center pushing forward to achieve some sort of consensus and finalize an agreement that would once again clearly favor developed countries, fail to alleviate poverty, and further increase the gap between the rich and poor.

As rally participants attempted to make their way to the convention center, the Hong Kong police forcibly blocked them. Knowing that this could be their last chance, the participants decided to move forward. Although the Hong Kong police attempted to disperse the crowd, the participants were desperate to enter the convention site. They became increasingly frustrated by the efforts of the Hong Kong police to stop and silence them and as a result a confrontation ensued between the participants and the Hong Kong police.

Hong Kong Police Violations Against Demonstrators

During this confrontation the police used excessive force, pepper spray, tear gas, and more importantly anti-riot beanbags (rubber bullets) to stop the participants. It was recently revealed that the Hong Kong police had never used beanbag bullets on demonstrators in Hong Kong, and that they are only intended to be used against rioters. It should be noted that the participants in no way started a riot nor was it their intention to do so. The intentions of their actions were peacefully motivated and thus, the response of the police in no way warranted such drastic actions. As a consequence many were injured during the confrontation.

Little past midnight on December 18, the Hong Kong police surrounded the protestors and refused to let anyone to either enter or leave the cordoned area. Starting at 2:30 am, the police declared that everyone was participating and an “unlawful assembly” and began to systematically arrest more than 1,300 participants. Since the police did not have sufficient vans to transfer the participants, it took them over ten hours to arrest everyone and incarcerate them in 14 detention centers across Hong Kong.

During the arresting and detention process a number were beaten by the police, hundreds were forced to be handcuffed in plastic cable wires behind their backs for more than three hours waiting to be processed by the police at the detention centers, and in certain cases, in the early stages of the detention, women were strip searched. A large number of detainees were held for 48 hours, the legal time frame for the Hong Kong police to either charge those arrested or release them. During this time many participants, in some cases 20 people together, were forcibly cramped into 3x3 cells with no blanket to cover the cold cement floors.

14 WTO Political Prisoners

In the end, the Hong Kong government released all of the participants except 14 individuals who they deemed to be the ringleaders and thus responsible for damages to public property and injuries suffered by the Hong Kong police. Of the fourteen arrested, nine are South Korean farmers, two are members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one is a homeless rights activist in Japan, one is a Taiwanese student, and one is mainland Chinese. Although the 14 WTO Political Prisoners are out on bail, twelve of the defendants (eleven Korean and one Japanese) are currently living in a local church due to the generosity of the Hong Kong Catholic Bishop, awaiting their trial. It should be noted that this is the first time that foreign nationals have been charged and are undergoing a formal trail procedure for participating in actions against the WTO.