BARCELONA, July 8: Activists and officials united in calling for cheap, life-savings drugs to be made available to fight AIDS in poor countries, as the world’s biggest conference on the disease opened amid controversy on Sunday.

A protest overshadowed the opening ceremony of the Barcelona international AIDS conference as activists kept up a chorus of jeers and whistles that drowned out the words of Spanish Health Minister Celia Villalobos.

Some among the 15,000-strong audience walked out.

Villalobos battled on to the end despite the deafening jeers which AIDS activists said were a protest against the Spanish government’s refusal of visas to a number of people from developing countries who planned to attend the conference.

Activists allege the government wanted to keep out people from the developing world with the virus that causes AIDS — a charge Madrid denies.

“If you are HIV positive and you can’t provide proof you have medical insurance you were banned from coming,” said David Miller, from the New York branch of AIDS activist group Act-Up.—Reuters