Sunday, March 29, 2009

Biden appeals directly to G20 protesters

US Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday called for tens of thousands of protesters already on the streets of Europe ahead of a G20 summit next week to give governments a chance to tackle the economic crisis.

"I would hope that the protesters give us a chance, listen to what we have to say and hopefully we can make it clear to them that we're going to walk away from this G20 meeting with some concrete proposals," Biden said at a news conference after a meeting of center-left politicians in Chile.

Tens of thousands frustrated by the deepest global recession since the 1930s took to the streets of London Saturday, as well as thousands more in Paris, Berlin and Frankfurt, ahead of Thursday's summit of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing economies.

"The action that is happening in London today I understand, and we will respond to it at the G20," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who will host the London meeting.

Biden added: "I would say to the protesters that unless we talk, unless we attempt to deal with this changed circumstance we find ourselves in, there is no solution. Things will only get worse."

Protesters in London plan a series of mass demos ahead of the G20 and have rejected police claims that they could be hijacked by anarchists bent on violence.

A university professor has been suspended from his job after warning that bankers would be "hanging from lampposts" during the protests, and finance workers have been advised to dress down to avoid attracting attention.

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