FIFTY banner-waving protesters travelled from Southampton for the opening day of the Labour Party conference yesterday to lobby the government about the plight of the Third World.
Two coaches, organised by Southamp-ton CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), joined hundreds of people from all over the country in a rally in Brighton.
The local group, comprising members of organisations and churches in Southampton, the New Forest and the Isle of Wight, put their case to Southampton MP Alan Whitehead.
As supporters carried banners declaring 'Free trade/guarantees a better deal for Third World producers', 'Justice Rocks,' and Trade Justice: No subsidies and dumping,' organiser Maria Malson spoke of the group's objectives.
"We want to eradicate poverty but without Trade Justice, people in the third world have no hope of lifting themselves out of it,'' she said.
"In the long-term they need to be empowered rather having to rely on aid.''
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