APEC protest march peaceful, security questioned

SYDNEY, Sep 8 (Reuters) It was predicted to be the flashpoint of the Asia-Pacific leaders' summit, tens of thousands of protesters clashing with police, but in the end today's anti-APEC march was a peaceful kaleidoscope of protests.

Now Sydneysiders are questioning whether the draconian security arrangements -- 5,000 police and troops patrolling their city, the minesweeper in Sydney Harbour, the security fence cutting the city in half and the purchase of a water cannon -- may have been excessive.

''The biggest reason we're all here is to protest at just how much is being spent on security,'' Sydney community worker Bridget Hennessey told Reuters at today's march.

Australia spent 169 million dollars(140 million dollars) on the nation's biggest security operation to protect 21 world leaders, amid police warnings of violent protests -- but only comedians breached the heavy security net.

The biggest security event at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum saw television comedians, including one dressed as al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, drive a fake motorcade unchallenged through two check points near US President George W Bush's hotel on Thursday.

The next most colourful was the ''Bums for Bush'' demonstration at which about 50 people dropped their pants to reveal anti-Bush slogans written on their bottoms.

On a cool, rainy day, around 5,000 people marched a few city blocks in the major anti-APEC protest, demonstrating against the Iraq war and climate change. Prostitutes wore ''Sluts Unite'' T-shirts and called for human rights for sex workers.

About 10 people dressed in business suits and, calling themselves the ''Billionaires for Bush'', stood and heckled the marchers with chants such as ''corporate might, not human rights''.

''The outcome of this rally today, which we said was a peaceful rally, goes to prove the security operation, the scaremongering about violence, has been exposed as a lie,'' said Alex Bainbridge, organiser of the ''Stop Bush Coalition'' march.

Police had predicted 20,000 protesters and possible riots.

Hundreds of police on foot, and some on bicycles, coralled marchers into Sydney's Hyde Park today, several blocks from the APEC summit venue, the Sydney Opera House. Buses converted into mobile jail cells blocked off streets and riot squad police and a water cannon were on standby in nearby streets.

''We're here to dispel the myth that protesters are just here to fight,'' said Gemma Walsh, 22, dressed as a clown with a green face paint and sunflower headgear.

APEC security has turned Australia's major city into a ghost town, with residents granted a public holiday yesterday and urged not to venture into the centre.

Streets in the northern part of the central business district were cut off by a concrete and wire security fence on Saturday, with police snipers on rooftops, as each leader's motorcade drove the few blocks to the opera house.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the fence was necessary because some protesters were threatening violence.

''The prime minister owes an apology to the thousands of peaceful citizens who protested today for having wrongly portrayed them as violent,'' Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said.

''The prime minister's decision to turn Sydney into a mini-police state today has broadcast around the world a negative image of Sydney and Australia that will be the real legacy of the APEC week,'' she said.

Australian security officials said they had received no intelligence of a terrorist threat to APEC. Australia, a staunch US ally with troops in Iraq, has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil.

Reuters SW GC1058