Reply #6: anarchists or provocateurs?

[Junkdrawer]

...

And suddenly there appeared a group, some 100 strong perhaps, in masks and black clothes, who went around breaking shop windows and looting, and engaged in some mayhem.

The police did not apprehend even one of them -- if they had, and as per US police procedures had been fingerprinted, perhaps their links with some agencies would have come out -- and the perpetrators remain mysterious and named as "anarchists".

To this writer, they seemed more like the agent provocateurs who joined in and created the unruly demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic Party Convention that led to the election of Republican President Nixon. There certainly were agent provocateurs around Seattle, but whether of some government agency or the equally powerful big business corporations, only time will show.

For two days, 30 Nov, 1-2 December, the organized protestors took over control of the streets, the police used tear gas and pepper spray, and declared curfew to regain control over the streets, and the National Guard was called in, but to the end participants at the conference were subject to siege conditions. And all this was used by US negotiators and Bill Clinton himself in a lunch address, to persuade and arm-twist delegations to gain two commitments -- one to bring in the labour standards issue into the WTO, and another, to use the environment issue to open the dispute panel proceedings to the environment NGOs, who believe they can present amicus curae briefs and change the views of panels (and perhaps collect more money from their constituents).

...


http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/theatre-cn.htm