OTTAWA -- It poured on their parade, but boisterous protesters were festive Thursday as they peacefully wrapped up two days of anti-G-8 marches in downtown Ottawa.
Up to 2,000 demonstrators, eyed by a circling police chopper, snaked through city streets denouncing Canadian immigration policies, the power of G-8 leaders and the war on terrorism. "No borders. No nations. Stop the deportations," the crowd chanted outside the offices of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Tougher new immigration rules take effect Friday.
Drenched protesters formed a small sea of flags and banners. They cheered the thunderclaps and lightning, banged drums, blew whistles and grooved to techno-tunes pumped from loudspeakers in a van that paced the crowd.
As they headed towards Parliament Hill, several complained Canada has shut its doors to some of the world's most needy refugees and immigrants in the name of national security.
Protesters also targeted U.S. President George W. Bush - the most powerful of the G-8 leaders who wrapped up meetings Thursday in Alberta - by handing out pretzels in his name.
Bush collapsed several months ago when he choked on a pretzel.
"Who do we hate? The G-8!" demonstrators yelled, some wearing T-shirts denouncing the U.S. president as a terrorist.
They marched under fork lightning and rolling thunder, sheets of rain and a heavy but restrained police presence to reach Parliament Hill by late afternoon.
The wet weather soon drove most away and police said they received no complaints about vandalism or violence. Only one arrest was made, early in the morning before demonstrations even began.
Activist Jaggi Singh called for open borders that would end so-called "racial profiling" which he says is used to turn away desperate refugees under the guise of national security.
Asked how entrance to the country should be controlled, he said: "I don't think the leaders of the G-8 should have been let in.
"I don't think rich, greedy bastards should be let in."
Demonstrators lauded Palestine's struggle in the Middle East, called for support of native land claims and stressed their disdain for world policies set by a handful of wealthy leaders.
They also questioned the much-touted aid package for Africa that was Prime Minister Jean Chretien's special focus heading into the G-8 summit.
The multi-billion-dollar New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) "was drafted with no consultation with African people," said Aziz Fall, a Montreal-based researcher with the Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa.
Africa needs meaningful debt reduction and a fair share of wealth from resources that are routinely stolen by companies based in developed countries - including Canada, he said.
Singh and other protesters complained that police quietly harassed them even while presenting a calm, low-key public image.
Following and videotaping activists "is just a different way of expressing the same brutality," said Brenda Inouye of the umbrella protest group Take the Capital.
The lines of local, federal, provincial and even military police received a lukewarm review from Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, who addressed a Canada-France conference Thursday in Ottawa.
"As a finance minister, I would have preferred the money that goes to security went somewhere else," Manley said.
But the "soft-hat" tactics of police who left behind their helmets and riot gear appeared to pay off. There were few confrontations, with only two arrests in two days and minimal property damage.
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