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CNN Sunday Morning

Streets are Calm in Quebec City

Aired April 22, 2001 - 07:06   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: More demonstrations are planned in Quebec City today. Thirty thousand people marched through the streets yesterday, and most of the protests have been noisy but peaceful. But some have been violent and they've had clashes with the police.

For the latest on the demonstrations, CNN's Lucia Newman joins us now at the securities perimeter.

Lucia, what do you expect for today?

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra. Well, right now, it is very cold and rainy here in Quebec City. The streets are very, very quiet. In fact, even the riot police or most of them are huddled inside buses for now. But police are expecting more demonstrations, most of them peaceful but as we've said, some of them violent, some people looking for a confrontation.

They are preparing, although they hope it will not be as spread and wide as it was yesterday. There were at least 150 arrests yesterday; nearly a 100 people were injured between protesters and police, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And you've had a chance to talk to a lot of those protesters, Lucia. Share with us some of the personal stories.

NEWMAN: Well, there are a broad range of complaints. Labor, for example, says that NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, has already heard it. They say that they're afraid that with this broader agreement big business will be tempted to go even further south of the border where, for example, a field worker only makes about 70 cents an hour compared to $15.00 an hour that workers make in the northern countries.

The protesters from the developing countries say that free trade really is a free ticket for exploitation. And all of them are complaining that the negotiations are taking place behind their backs, that they don't know what the treaty entails, which is why at least one concession has been made to them. The summit organizations say that they will release a draft of the treaty, a treaty, which I may add, is still very, very much infest in its diaper stage -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Lucia. We'll continue to follow that -- both sides of that story. Lucia Newman, thank you.

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