Thousands march in bid to keep ban on genetically engineered food

October 11, 2003
Agence France Presse, English [via Agnet]
 
AUCKLAND - Thousands of protesters marched in New Zealand Saturday in a
last-ditch attempt to urge the government to maintain a ban on the
release of genetically engineered (GE) foods.

Demonstrators of all ages, including many parents with young children,
took to the streets in main city and town centres across the North and
South Islands to protest against the lifting of the moratorium on the
commercial growing of GE foods, mostly agricultural crops, at the end of October.

Auckland, New Zealand's largest city where nearly half the country's
four million population live, saw the largest turnout, with organisers
estimating around 30,000 people marched up the main street chanting
anti-GE slogans, banging drums and carrying banners.

While police estimated the crowds were considerably smaller at 15,000,
many eye-witnesses told AFP the event was one of the biggest-ever public
protests, and on a par with mass anti-nuclear marches of the early 1980s
and anti-Vietnam marches of the 1960s.