DURBAN: Riot police have blocked hundreds of protesters, mostly women farmers, from entering UN climate talks in Durban, according to a photographer on the scene.
The demonstrators tried to break through barriers surrounding the conference centre where about 15,000 diplomats, experts and NGOs are trying to breathe life into international negotiations tasked with fighting the threat of climate change.
About 50 police in full riot gear prevented the crowd from entering the venue, the Agence France-Presse photographer said. The protesters fell back and there were no arrests nor injuries, a policeman at the scene said.
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The women farmers from 10 countries across southern Africa converged on Durban to testify on how climate change had disrupted their livelihoods due to erratic weather such as severe storms and blistering heatwaves.
Many wore T-shirts reading ''Rural Women Assembly'' and carried banners, including one that said: ''Women are the Guardians of Seed, Life and Earth.''
Non-governmental organisations and local grassroots groups had announced a protest march under the banner of ''climate justice'' for Saturday and said they expected a turnout of several thousand people.
The 12-day, 194-country talks, under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change enter a high-level phase from tomorrow with the arrival of ministers, and end on Friday.
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