Associated Press / Mike Corder
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Anti-globalization protesters battled police and formed a human barricade around the site of an international economic forum on Monday, delaying its start.
Thousands of demonstrators waved placards and attacked the cars of delegates outside the hotel and casino complex in the southern city of Melbourne, which was hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum.
One delegate, Western Australia state Premier Richard Court, was trapped in his official car for about 20 minutes as a crowd of protesters jumped on it and slashed its tires. Angry clashes broke out as police, some on horseback, broke through the crowd to allow Court's car to move on.
"They jumped up and down on the car, let down the tires and painted it," Court said later.
A police spokesman said two officers were taken to hospital with injuries sustained in the crush. Two protesters were arrested "on suspicion of assaulting police." They were released but would be charged later, police said.
The violence quieted quickly, although tense standoffs between police and protesters continued at several entrances to the complex. Organizers said most delegates had entered the complex, and the summit would go ahead.
Dozens of government leaders and senior business executives, including Microsoft's Bill Gates, are due to attend the summit to discuss future economic developments in Asia.
The three-day event is organized by the Davos, Switzerland-based World Economic Forum, a group that brings together business and government heads to discuss the global economy.
Protest organizer David Glanz said the demonstration was a success despite the violence, which he said was limited to the "fringe" of the protesters.
Fearing it would be targeted by violent protests similar to those that marred last year's World Trade Organization talks in Seattle, Nike closed its flagship Melbourne store on Sunday and boarded up the windows.
One group inconvenienced by Monday's protest was the U.S. Olympic women's basketball team, which missed a 9 a.m. training session after being stranded in the casino hotel lobby because its bus could not penetrate the protest cordon.
The team, in Melbourne to play exhibition matches before the Sept. 15-Oct.1 Sydney Olympics, later walked through the protest cordon and caught a bus from the city.
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.:
