SYDNEY, Aug 30: Three people were injured and seven arrested when police and anti-globalization campaigners clashed at the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday during protests against a convention for international business chiefs.

Australian police said two officers received minor injuries and a demonstrator was hospitalized after marchers attempted to storm the tourist landmark, believing the opening dinner of the fifth annual Forbes Global CEO Conference was taking place inside.

But the dinner, attended by Australian Prime Minister John Howard and 350 top international business leaders, had already been moved to a nearby venue as organizers and police sought to evade the demonstrators.

Hundreds of chanting protesters had earlier gathered at the Opera House, aiming to disrupt the conference, organized by billionaire business magazine publisher Steve Forbes.

Police erected a concrete and wire fence to close off public access to the building, staging helicopter and marine patrols around Sydney Harbour to ensure the waterfront structure could not be reached by boat.

A group of demonstrators broke through the police barricade about 7pm and were driven back by mounted police. A short time later three other people were arrested in separate incidents.

Police said the demonstrators were expected to be charged with offences including violent disorder, trespass, assaulting police and malicious damage.

Although protest organizers had said they expected the event to be attended by up to 10,000 people, only several hundred appeared in downtown Sydney ahead of the conference opening dinner.

But police and conference administrators had secretly arranged for the dinner to be staged at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, on the opposite side of Sydney Cove, because of the security concerns.

Protesters, who marched through the city beating drums and carrying banners reading ‘Christians against Greed’ and ‘People Before Profits’, claimed the change of venue was a moral victory.

“The corporate pirates have fled. They are scared of us,” one protester informed the crowd, which included the national students’ union, members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement and Christian groups.

A spokesman for the conference organizers said the change of venue was not a last-minute decision and had been planned in advance, although the Opera House appears as the venue on official Forbes documents.

The rest of the conference was scheduled to be held in the Opera House as planned, amid tight security.

Forbes, who sought the Republican US presidential nomination in 1996 and 2000, fired the first shots against the protesters at an opening news conference, saying they were failing to embrace capitalism, which he called the most effective method of ending global poverty.

“Don’t just look at the big companies, the Exxons of the world,” he said.

“Look at the millions of people striving to start businesses on street corners and in the outbacks of countries like India and China.

“That’s where the real dynamism is, that’s where the real progress is being made,” Forbes told reporters.

“You don’t see it until success is achieved, but that kind of fermentation is where the real fight against poverty takes place each and every day.”

A spokesman for the protesters, gathered under the umbrella of the so-called 30A Network, reflecting the conference’s opening date, called the conference delegates ‘free-market freaks’.

“Forbes stands for free-market extremism, no labour regulations, no environmental regulations,” said Bruce Knobloch before the protest.

“It’s a carnival protest. There will be lots of music and speakers. We want to send our message by our numbers, by our creativity.”—AFP