Spell-binding ceremony to vex summit

By Chris Daniels

If Apec organisers did not already have enough to cope with in stroppy commuters and protesters, they now have to fight the mysterious powers of the occult. Three witches put a hex on the leaders' summit in a ceremony outside the Auckland Town Hall yesterday.

Leigh Cookson, witch and member of the Apec Monitoring Group, said the effects of the hex would be unpredictable. "Delegates can expect items to go missing, meetings to degenerate into meaningless arguments and Apec to become even more unstable during the meetings," she said.

"Worse still, they may find themselves mimicking Mike Moore and Lockwood Smith's incomprehensible raves about the global economy at completely inappropriate moments."

Apec security personnel were not taking any chances with these part-time practitioners of the occult - three burly men with very short haircuts and sunglasses coincidentally strolled through the group during the recital.

A large ute with tinted windows and bristling with aerials also made a few passes and u-turns along Queen St as the witches called upon their spirit forces to scupper the leaders' meeting.

The hex contained words to strike fear into the hearts of free-trade enthusiasts.

Drizzle, sizzle, watch this hex

Frizzle Apec, we are going to vex

those corrupt transnationals,

Full of greed

Thinking only of profit,

never need.

After a similar spell was cast on Apec's Small and Medium Enterprises gathering in Christchurch in April, the Chinese delegation "mysteriously left" before the meeting started.