“City workers and commuters were beseiged today as hundreds of anti-globalisation protesters attempted to blockade the Australian Stock Exchange, and took to the streets to march against what they claim to be `corporate tyranny'.
“The so-called `M1' protests were a follow-on from the violent S11 protests last year at the World Economic Forum meeting at the Crown Casino.
“There were ugly scenes as police were jostled and pushed by protesters hindering workers from entering the Stock Exchange building.
“Protesters later attempted to enter the Telstra corporate offices in Londsdale Street and to push their way into the Nike Superstore, but were held back by outnumbered police.
“City streets were cordoned off for the march, disrupting public transport and causing traffic chaos.”
The accompanying footage: A snatch of a couple of seconds of jostling outside the ASX, with at least one person falling backward, then cut to a snippet of the march (from the side, to show only the width of the march), then more seconds of jostling outside Nike. If there's an arrest, there'll be about as much footage again spent in showing the protester(s) being dragged away.
Then in the “wrap-up” comes the obligatory vox-pop of bystander impressions:
(Bemused young male in Bourke Street mall, wearing a sloppy-jo and jeans) “I don't know why they're doing it”.
(Elderly woman, sunglasses and wrap, with shop window behind her) “I just came into the city to meet my daughter. Looks as though I chose the wrong day!” (smiles good-naturedly).
(Hurried older male on street-corner, in slacks, shirt and tie) “It's all a bit of a joke, isn't it? I understand their concerns, but surely there are more appropriate means of voicing their dissatisfaction than through hooliganism and violence.”
End of report.
[Taken from a spoof of likely commercial TV coverage, distributed by the Melbourne Independent Media Centre <http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org> as a promo for alternative media, two weeks before M1. Prescient, huh?.]
