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American Morning

Summit of the Americas Expects Protests

Aired April 20, 2001 - 09:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A day of summitry is ahead for President Bush and 33 other leaders of the Western Hemisphere. The third Summit of the Americas gets underway in Quebec City later today. The focus there was going to be on free trade, but already opponents are making their presence known.

CNN's Lucia Newman joins us now live from Quebec City with a preview.

Good morning, Lucia.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

Indeed, this is believed to be, perhaps, the most ambitious summit ever held in the Americas, with the idea of bringing together people from all over this region in the largest trading block of the world. Leaders from all over South America, Central America and North America as well as the Caribbean began arriving here last night to this historic 17th century city. President George Bush is expected to be arriving in just about four hours to attend his first world summit since taking office.

The idea is to bring together 800 million people in this huge trade block, but not everybody is happy about the idea. In fact, there are protesters here and security measures have been taken -- very, very stringent security measures indeed. A huge concrete and chain link fence that's more than 2 1/2 miles long is surrounding the old part of Quebec City to keep protesters out, and many of the residents here are upset about the inconvenience.

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They're blocking off half the city; I live here. And they're blocking off that the city that I can't go into because you're bring in people from all over North, South America to discuss business. And it's just they turn the city into a zoo.

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NEWMAN: Now, tens of thousands of other people who are here are more upset about the substance of the summit. There was a very, very large protest last night -- peaceful, I may add -- but authorities are afraid that it could get out of hand, which is why they have more than 6,000 specially trained police to ensure that the sorts of violence and riots that disrupted the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle, Washington 16 months ago is not repeated here.

They believe very strongly that globalization and a trade free (sic) zone in this area will hurt labor, will hurt ordinary people and will only favor the large multinational corporations; while those who, of course, are in favor of a free trade zone argue that what's good for business is also good for people -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, thanks much; Lucia Newman reporting live from Quebec City, we'll be seeing much more of you later on.

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