According to Weekly News Update on the Americas, Chilean police arrested 30 of the approximately 200 demonstrators at a rally on November 10. They were protesting the infringements on civil liberties in the lead up to the November 19-21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. The day before the rally, the interior minister of the Chilean government cut short the permitted route of a November 19 march organised by the Chilean Social Forum, a coalition of 200 groups. A number of protests will greet participants, including US President George Bush, in the APEC forum. Chilean police have said only protests authorised by the interior ministry will be allowed during the summit. For the past year, the Interpol office in Santiago has been a managing a database of around 500 activists they believe could be coming to Chile for the APEC protests.
From Green Left Weekly, November 24, 2004.
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