Riot police clashed with anti-globalisation protesters in Hong Kong today as a meeting of ministers from World Trade Organization (WTO) nations got under way at a convention centre about a kilometre away.
Nearby about 70, mostly South Korean, protesters leapt into Hong Kong harbour, where they bobbed in the murky water wearing orange life-jackets and punching the air with their fists.
"The WTO is driving us to our deaths," one man shouted.
Television pictures showed that riot police with shields had encircled many of the protesters near the water's edge, where there was pushing and shoving between the two sides, and police used pepper spray on protesters.
At one point the demonstrators lit a mock wooden coffin meant to signify the death of the WTO, but the police immediately doused the flames. Protesters then pelted the police with what appeared to be bottles of water.
The incidents came at the end of a march by more than 2,000 people to protest against trade liberalisation.