Australian police lock down Melbourne for G20 meet

SYDNEY, Nov 16 (Reuters) Police started locking down parts of Australia's second biggest city Melbourne today to stop protesters reaching the annual G20 summit of finance ministers and central bankers this weekend.

Violent anti-globalisation protests marred a World Economic Forum in Melbourne in 2000.

Police erected metal barricades around the hotel where the world's top finance ministers and central bankers will meet and warned protesters not to break the law.

Protesters, from anti-globalisation groups, churches and aid organisations, plan three days of direct action and carnival protests begining tomorrow when ministers and bankers arrive.

The G20 represents 20 industrialised and developing nations, from economic powerhouses the United States and China to developing states Mexico and Indonesia, and meets annually to discuss world economic and trade development.

The summit will be held at the Grand Hyatt hotel on Saturday and Sunday, with police blocking off several surrounding streets.

''I wouldn't bring a car into the city. It's going to grind the city to a halt,'' said police superintendent Mick Williams.

''Stay within the law,'' Williams warned protesters. ''The minute you cross the mark, police will act appropriately.'' Stop G-20 protest spokesman Marcus Greville said he expected tens of thousands of people to rally against the summit on Saturday but added he did not expect violence.

''This is a political thing, it's not about making people's lives a misery,'' he said. ''We will do everything to prevent the police lashing out like they did in 2000.'' The Stop G20 Web site said: ''We have no time for violent macho fantasy or delusions about (Indian non-violence hero Mahatma) Gandhi...We want to be smart, joyful and defiant, not martyrs.'' Other groups plan carnival-like events, including a music festival, meditation vigils, and a ''Beyond Capitalism Market'' featuring puppets, cabaret and tarot readings.

Australian Treasurer Peter Costello said the Melbourne G20 meeting, which brings major oil producing nations Saudi Arabia and Russia together with major customers, including China and India, would discuss ways to ensure energy and resource security.

But aid groups are calling on the G20 ministers and bankers to step up the global fight against poverty, saying 30,000 children die as a result of extreme poverty every day.

''We welcome the G20 but it will be a wasted opportunity if domestic issues such as petrol prices dominate the G20 when people's lives are at stake,'' said Reverend Tim Costello, co-chair of the Make Poverty History coalition.

The Make Poverty History coalition of aid and church groups is calling for debt relief and increased aid to alleviate poverty through education and investment in poor nations.

Costello, the brother of the Australian treasurer, called on Australia to take the lead at the Melbourne G20 meeting and grant bilateral debt relief to neighbouring Indonesia and the Phlippines.

''The money saved on repayments, if directed to child health programmes, could save more than 20,000 children's lives in Indonesia alone,'' he said.

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