Groups such as La Via Campesina, especially the local group Uniterre, ATTAC, Ecologistas en Acción, the Transnational Institute, Focus on the Global South, Corporate Europe Observatory, participated in the demonstration. Several of these groups are part of the network Our World Is Not For Sale, which has a strong presence in Geneva.

The activists gathered in the New Square and started marching from there. The presence of La Via Campesina called the attention, since they took several tractors driven by the peasants during the demonstration. Nearly 30 delegates of this network traveled to Geneva from Africa, Asia and other European countries.

Unfortunately there were incidents during the demonstration. One of the groups of the ’Black Bloc’, known in Europe for their -sometimes violent- direct actions, broke the windows of several shopping malls and financial centers, vandalized cars and set some on fire. Later, the police decided to act and repressed the demonstration with water tanks, tear gases and by beating them. For this reason the march could not make it to the front of the WTO building, as planned.

Most demonstrators, who voiced their demands respectfully and peacefully, expect these violent incidents will not leave aside the message the march sent to the world. “The balance of the WTO policies and the free trade agreements is catastrophic, especially for the peasants of the world. The Doha round – called development round – is a cycle of crisis development”, said La Via Campesina in a recent communique.

Today’s march was the first of a series of activities of the different social movements and organizations that will take place until December 2nd, when the WTO ministerial meeting comes to an end. The demonstrations will tell the world once again that this organization cannot think of the solutions for the different crises when it actually is one of the main responsible. So its solutions are false and only want profit for the world’s strongest economic groups, the activists claim.

They also blamed the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank for liberalizing the global economy and wanting to push this model even further, to the detriment of the most impoverished people.

At the end of the activities on December 2nd, tens of demonstrators will leave on buses towards Copenhagen, Denmark, where the UN COP 15 on climate change will take place. They will push their demands there as well.