Riot Police Block Most Affected by Climate Change from Entering Climate Conference

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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/12/02-6

DURBAN, South Africa — Bearing the message that their livelihoods were in peril, hundreds of women farmers tried Friday to gatecrash UN climate talks in Durban, where they were peacefully held back by police.

The women, from 10 countries across southern Africa, converged on the conference to testify how storms and heatwaves, intensified by climate change, were wreaking havoc on an already meagre sustenance.

Many wore green-on-black T-shirts reading "Rural Women Assembly" and carried hand-scrawled banners, including one that said: "Women Are the Guardians of Seed, Life and Earth."

About 50 police in full riot gear prevented the women and other protesters from entering the venue.

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1. Get used to this kind of headline

The only variability when it recurs is likely to be the degree of violence employed.