| Argentina resort on alert for bush protests { November 3 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nN03334113http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nN03334113
UPDATE 1-Argentine resort on alert for anti-Bush protests Thursday 3 November 2005, 4:37pm EST
(Adds comment from demonstrator, details)
By Kevin Gray
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Shopkeepers raced to board up storefronts and residents fled this Argentine seaside resort on Thursday as thousands of protesters prepared to take to the streets to protest U.S. President George W. Bush's presence at an Americas-wide presidential summit.
Bush was scheduled to arrive late on Thursday for a two-day Summit of the Americas in a country where anti-Bush sentiment runs high due to the war in Iraq and U.S.-backed, free-market policies that Argentines say pushed millions of their compatriots into poverty.
"People see all the iron barricades and police on every corner and they get scared," said construction worker Hernan Brito, who received five last-minute requests to board up store windows from merchants worried about possible looting.
U.S. interests including Blockbuster (BBI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) video stores and Citibank (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) branches were covered with corrugated metal shields ahead of protest marches early on Friday.
More than 7,500 police officers erected a security ring around summit hotels and patroled the streets and beaches of this normally bustling city of 600,000, which looked more like a ghost town. Coast guard boats trolled the shore and air space was restricted.
Classes were canceled at most schools this week and whole families, fearing protests could turn violent, headed out of town.
"We hope protests are carried out in a peaceful way, but if they are not, we are prepared to give wrongdoers a forceful response," said Federal Police commissioner Daniel Rodriguez.
Leftist activists mostly from Latin America are holding an alternative Peoples' Summit and Bush's main critic in the region, leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, is due to speak there on Friday.
The war of words between Bush and Chavez over trade and development will take center stage at the summit, but Chavez also aims to be the victor on the streets.
FEAR OF TERROR ATTACKS
A Chavez-sponsored train will bring anti-Bush celebrities like Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona to the city. U.S. anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan and other relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq are also expected in town.
Cuba's Fidel Castro, the only leader not invited to the summit, sent a delegation of Cuban athletes to the Peoples' Summit to support his friend Chavez.
"We want to send a message to President Bush that the U.S. way is not the only way," said Veronica Gomez, a 34-year-old Argentine secretary who plans to march.
Argentina's "piqueteros" -- the militant unemployed group that sprang to fame during the country's 2001-2002 economic crisis -- are organizing their own march for Friday.
The bunker mentality spread to the capital Buenos Aires, 250 miles (400 km) to the north, where two separate riots broke out this week. The government blamed a hodgepodge of labor and leftist groups for the destructive rampages.
But fears of terror attacks also came into play. Buenos Aires subway employees refused to work during the summit due to what they perceived as a security threat.
Bush may also face protests when he travels to Brazil on Saturday.
In Argentina, the summit of 34 leaders will concentrate on job creation as the key to long-term prosperity in Latin America, where the $3,000 per capita income is less than 10 percent of the U.S. average.
A more prickly issue, the U.S. push to restart stalled talks for the Free Trade Area of the Americas or FTAA in 2006, may not make much progress in the forum due to resistance among Latin America's big economies, fearful of the impact on their farm sectors.
Locals who had hoped for an economic boost from the summit scoffed at it for the trouble it was causing their businesses.
"They say the summit is focusing on job creation, but we have to leave our jobs so they can do it," said an angry Gloria Martinez, who sells Mar del Plata's famous sweaters.
(Additional reporting by Raymond Colitt in Brasilia and Patricia Avila in Mar del Plata)
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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