Protesters skeptical as G7 claims anti-globalization mantle

The G-7 summit has for the first time co-opted the message of its protesters: Capitalism has led to damaging inequalities and environmental degradation that has harmed the global economy and a handful of rich countries can’t be the only ones making decisions for the world.

But thousands of people beginning to camp outside the French coastal resort of Biarritz for G-7 protests are quite skeptical of the new messengers. For 20 years, international summits have attracted protesters with a range of tactics and a message against globalization.

France has deployed more than 13,000 police to protect this year’s gathering. The interior minister says he doesn’t want a repeat of the 1999 protests of the World Trade Organization summit, which became known as the “Battle of Seattle.”