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Hundreds arrested, injured at WTO

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HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Despite about 900 arrests made by Hong Kong police, anti-globalization protesters on Sunday marched down one of city's main thoroughfares to gather outside police barricades at the site of the World Trade Organization talks on the last day of negotiations

Several thousand protesters gathered at a Hong Kong park a few miles from the site of the talks for a rally before setting off on the march. They are on one of the city's biggest commercial streets, which normally would be humming with shoppers, but on Sunday many stores were closed and boarded up.

Although some speeches at the rally criticized police for what demonstrators called heavy-handed tactics, most focused on their complaints regarding the WTO itself.

The protesters, who include farmers, migrant workers and environmentalists, believe the WTO is a symbol for what's wrong about the development of free trade. Globalization, they claim, benefits only rich countries and hurts poor countries.

Several thousand police officers also were gearing up for Sunday's protests. On Saturday, police used tear gas, fire hoses and pepper spray in an attempt to subdue demonstrators trying to edge past police barricades and get closer to the exhibition center.

Most of those arrested Saturday were South Korean farmers, who have been among the most militant protesters as they oppose the opening of the country's rice market. Around 3:30 a.m. (1730 GMT), police began dragging out the protesters into nearby police vans. Police linked hands to form a cordon around the protesters, while officers removed them, one by one.

Police had warned protesters for hours to leave the area near the convention center, where they had clogged the streets, preventing people from getting to clubs and shops.

After hours of running battles, one of the South Koreans, using a megaphone to talk to protesters, urged them to be arrested with dignity if police choose to detain them. He called for the protesters to lie down and be taken away in a non-violent fashion. The 900 arrested demonstrator from Saturday night remained detained on Sunday.

Police said on Sunday 96 people, including 23 police officers, had been injured during the protests.

The violence was believed to be the worst erupting in Hong Kong since 1989, when protests erupted against Beijing's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters after the deadly Tiananmen Square demonstrations. Because of the violence, some protest leaders were reportedly considering withdrawing from the anti-WTO march on Sunday.

Although demonstrations have largely been peaceful this week, with the exception of a few minor scuffles, the protesters from South Korea escalated their actions on Saturday, attempting to break through a barrier marking the designated protest zone.

When they failed, the group of about 1,000 to 1,500 split into smaller groups and spread out over several square blocks before reassembling closer to the exhibition center where talks are being held and attempting to push forward.

Police holding riot shields and wearing gas masks tried pepper spray and fire hoses to keep the demonstrators back, then fired tear-gas canisters -- a nearly unheard-of tactic in normally civilized Hong Kong.

A main thoroughfare through the densely populated district, which includes shops, nightclubs and residences, was shut down because of the alternating standoffs and clashes with police. The city center has been virtually paralyzed.

Although an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 protesters have shown up at the WTO talks, which officially got underway on Tuesday, only a small fraction of them participated in Saturday's violence.

Hong Kong has drawn criticism for holding the talks at the exhibition center, a building that is easily accessible, and also for establishing a protest area with a clear line that can be breached.

Saturday night, the protesters were about 100 meters (328 feet) away from the entrance to the exhibition center -- the closest they have been able to get.

CNN Senior Asia Correspondent Mike Chinoy contributed to this report

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