Protesters Plan For G-20 Summit

Protesters In Britian Are Planning For A Week Of Protests In London.

Mar 28, 2009

Put People First is the name of a week of protest leading up to the G-20 economic summit in London. Protesters say they want economic transparency and justice.

Thousands of protesters plan to spend the week leading up to the upcoming G-20 conference in London demanding economic transparency, employment and concern for the environment.

The summit will host leaders from the 20 leading world economies who will discuss the current state of the world economy. Those included in the meetings will be representative from the 19 leading national economies and the European Union. The G-20 is one of the largest meetings of its kind in the world.

But the groups sponsoring the event say that they want certain concerns, including economic justice, transparency and environmental concerns attended to as the leaders seek solutions to global economic problems. That is why the groups organizing the event call their effort, “Put People First.”

British Union Group Leader Helps Kick Off Event

Approximately 35,000 protesters made their way to the famous speaker’s corner in London’s Hyde Park.

Helping to kick off the event was a speech by the General Secretary of one of Britain’s largest union organizations, the Trades Union Congress, Brendan Barber. The congress represents about six million workers in Britain.

In his speech, Barber demanded that certain voices be heard by those attending the summit: “There will be voices for change. Voices that want to see global regulation of finance and a crack down on tax havens. Voices for a green new deal. Voices for the kind of economic boost that can fight unemployment and poverty.”

Protesters aren’t expected to be the only ones attending the rally. Police security around the event has been increased as some anarchist groups have promised violence ahead of the rally.

The main groups holding the event, however, say they have a peaceful purpose in mind and will host teach-ins, speeches and peaceful demonstrations.

Solidarity Events and Other Groups Involved

The Trades Union Congress isn’t the only group involved in the London events. Among some of the other groups participating and lending their voices to the event include:

There were also some sympathy protests held in other European capitals. Police estimate that approximately 10,000 protesters gathered in Berlin to lend to their support to the upcoming London Protests, and that about 1,000 gathered for a protest in Germany’s banking capital of Frankfurt. The Frankfurt and Berlin demonstrators were protesting a bailout plan for banks in that country. Protesters were seen carrying such slogans as: “”We Won’t Pay For Your Crisis”, “Pay For It Yourselves”, and “Make Capitalism History.”

The copyright of the article Protesters Plan For G-20 Summit in Activism is owned by Jon Pike. Permission to republish Protesters Plan For G-20 Summit in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.