|
World Economic Forum Opens in New York
|
|
|
Members of the Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong exercise as part of their demonstration across the street from the World Economic Forum at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. |
NEW YORK, Jan. 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - While many of the world's most prominent business and political leaders convene to discuss the planet's biggest problems, protesters opposed to globalization are taking to Manhattan's streets amid a heavy police presence, news agencies reported.
The World Economic Forum was opening Thursday morning, kicking off five days of planned talks on everything from reducing poverty to boosting security in the post-September 11 world.
Leaders of left-wing labor, student and environmental groups insist that daily demonstrations near the forum will be loud but peaceful, away from the vandalism and violence associated with past conferences, including a 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle that collapsed amid riots and tear gas.
Thursday afternoon, more than 1,000 union supporters are expected to gather for a rally sponsored by the AFL-CIO only blocks from the posh Waldorf-Astoria hotel where the conference will take place. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said Wednesday, January 30, the workers will try "to educate people on the need for worker's rights and for the need to hold corporations accountable."
As the three thousand or so participants discuss ways to reduce poverty around the globe, improve global security and restore growth in the midst of worldwide recession, they will be outnumbered by New York police on guard outside.
On Wednesday, concrete barriers were in place around the Waldorf-Astoria, and vehicles were prevented from entering streets surrounding the midtown Manhattan institution. Groups of police stood watch below ground in subway stations, and hundreds more were posted on the streets, some wearing riot gear. Commuters walking in the blocks near the hotel had to show picture identification to pass through and get to work.
In all, about 4,000 officers are assigned to the event. The Federal Aviation Administration issued an order preventing flights over the hotel. Authorities are anxious to avoid a repeat of last year's World Economic Forum, which was held in its normal location of Davos, Switzerland. There, protesters -- angry that authorities kept them from getting near the conference site -- smashed windows, burned cars and clashed with police.
Police have granted permits to some protest groups, allowing them to demonstrate in designated areas. But authorities have vowed to clamp down on any sort of illegal behavior, saying they would enforce an 1845 state law barring groups of demonstrators from wearing masks.
The forum is being held somewhere other than Davos for the first time. It was relocated to New York partly out of sympathy for a city hit hard by terrorism and still nervous about the prospect of future attacks.
No binding decisions are ever made at the conference, but participants say the event has added importance this year because it brings together so many powerful players in a city still recovering from the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center.
Several said they hoped the serious discussions at the forum will help political and economic leaders map out solutions to some of the world's hardest problems.
|
