G-7 leaders assemble amid protests, renewed concern about terrorism
June 27, 1996
Web posted at: 1 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT)LYON, France (CNN) -- Leaders of the world's richest industrialized nations are gathering for three days of talks on issues ranging from terrorism to the peace process in Bosnia.
The leaders of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, Italy, Canada and France -- the group of seven -- will begin talks Thursday. Their actions will be monitored by thousands of officials and 2,500 journalists and camera crews. Russia will participate in the economic talks for the first time Friday when Russian premier Viktor Chernomyrdin joins the group.
Two events have raised tensions before the conference. U.S. President Bill Clinton has vowed to make terrorism a priority after Tuesday's bombing of a military housing facility in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 Americans and injured hundreds of people.
And in a protest of cost-cutting measures that may threaten their economic security, 25,000 workers and retirees from across France marched Tuesday against the summit. They protested what they describe as the sinister impact of the global economy: an assault on the developed world's health and welfare systems and the use of cheap labor in Asia or Latin America in place of unionized workers in Europe, the United States and Japan.
It was the first time in the G-7's 21-year history that major trade unions have protested to fight job cuts, labor deregulation and attacks on public services in the West.
Demonstration organizers said Lyon was a fitting symbol of resistance to injustice, recalling a bloody rebellion in 1831 by ill-paid silk industry workers in which 171 workers and 170 soldiers were killed.
Lyon hopes for recognition
As the summit begins, France's second-largest city gets a chance to bask in the international spotlight.
Summit organizers are confident it will put the name of Lyon on the world map and regain, if only for three days, the fame the city enjoyed as the Lugdunum capital of Roman Gaul and a wealthy Renaissance trading center.
Although the summit will be the fourth in France since the group began meeting in 1975, never before has this elegant city of 1.2 million people straddling two rivers in central France hosted such a mammoth gathering.
It will test its facilities as a strategic hub of motorways and high-speed trains between northern and southern Europe.
Lyon is deploying a new asset: a glittering congress center built by Italian architect Renza Piano beside the Rhone river.
The city counts on its celebrated gastronomy and its Beaujolais wine to ensure the atmosphere French President Jacques Chirac wants to convey: that of a relaxed gathering of friends.
'All work and no play ... '
Between talks at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chirac will treat his guests to lunch in the nearby Tete d'Or rose garden and dinner at Leon de Lyon, a renowned restaurant.
The Lyon people will be treated to fireworks and a concert featuring U.S. folk star Bob Dylan and French rock star Johnny Halliday.
But as the French people grumble about tax increases and as France strives to cut its budget deficit in order to join the single European currency in 1999, Chirac wants to buck the trend of G-7 extravaganzas and make the summit a simple, low-cost affair.
Organizers plan to make maximum use of existing facilities. They say the summit will cost less than last year's meeting in Halifax, Canada, and less than half of France's previous G-7 summit, a gala occasion which marked the bicentennial of the 1789 revolution.
Related stories:
- Yeltsin to skip G-7 conference - June 19, 1996
- G-7 expresses concerns about global economy, Russia - January 21, 1996
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