A protester outside the World Trade Organisation summit in Cancun, Mexico, stabbed himself to death amid violent scenes in which police used tear gas.
Demonstrators led by farmers from around the world staged angry protests outside the gathering yesterday, throwing rocks, bottles and flaming signs at police, who pushed them back with tear gas and batons.
One man, a former politician from South Korea, fatally stabbed himself in the chest to show his anger over WTO policy.
Lee Kyung-Hae was well-known to WTO officials and envoys after a two-month, one-man protest outside the organisation's Geneva headquarters earlier this year. He also attempted suicide in the lobby of the building in 1990, when he plunged a knife into his stomach.
At the summit, trade ministers from some of the poorest countries in the world pleaded for an end to subsidies to rich cotton farmers, claiming the aid has thrown their countries into poverty and despair.
Cotton is the most high-profile of the problems bedevilling the World Trade Organisation as it negotiates rules to liberalise agricultural trade, which most agree is key to progress toward a larger treaty.
"If nothing is done urgently and solidly, this could lead to the total loss of revenue for our producers, an increase in poverty and the destruction of our economic system," said Benin's trade minister, Mr Fatiou Akplogan.
EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said he had "sympathy" for the problem of African cotton farmers, but stressed that the bloc produced less than 3 per cent of world cotton and was the world's largest importer of cotton.
The United States stresses that subsidies are not the only problem. The cotton trade is also affected by import tariffs that are sometimes as high as 100 per cent, lengthy customs procedures, complicated labelling requirements and policies that promote the development of man-made fibres.
The WTO meeting marks the halfway stage in the body's attempts to agree to a new treaty to liberalise trade by the end of next year. Governments also must move ahead with talks in other areas like reducing tariffs on industrial goods, improving access for service industries and deciding whether to start new negotiations in the controversial area of investment rules.
AP