http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/29/nyregion/29FORU.html January 29, 2002 Huge Police Presence Is Readied for World Economic Forum By AL BAKER
The pledge from the New York Police Department yesterday was stern: protesters at the World Economic Forum later this week can expect a huge police presence, with zero tolerance for any violations of the law. It would be unwise to litter or cross against the lights, the police said, and wearing a mask or a hood in a group will be cause for immediate arrest.
For the typical New Yorker, the security lockdown in Manhattan, particularly around the conference at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, will be reminiscent of the tense days after Sept. 11, with traffic checkpoints, bomb-sniffing dogs and vehicle searches. The police are discouraging people from wearing backpacks near the conference in Midtown and plan to use metal detectors for street searches. Drivers are being urged to use public transportation, and subway operators will bypass certain stations if violence erupts.
The department said it was issuing the warning to deter the kind of vandalism and violence that marred similar economic gatherings in recent years in cities like Seattle, Genoa and Quebec.
"This is America. If people want to come to New York to protest in a peaceful manner, we welcome and respect their right to do so," said Michael P. O'Looney, the department's deputy commissioner for public information. "But keep in mind that the citizens of this city have been through a lot in the last five months. We will not tolerate anyone breaking the law. If they do so, they will be dealt with swiftly and firmly."
>From Thursday to Monday, about 3,000 leaders of corporations and
governments as well as academic, religious and cultural figures
will be at the meeting, discussing economics, politics and
current events. The forum was moved from its traditional meeting
spot in Davos, Switzerland, to New York City to show a solidarity
with New Yorkers in the wake of the terrorist attack.
City officials hope it will prove to be a financial boon in troubled economic times. The participants, who are paying $25,000 a head for the privilege of hobnobbing with each other, are also expected to venture out for breakfasts, cocktail parties and visits to local museums or the ruins of the World Trade Center.
Phalanxes of demonstrators are expected to shadow them at every turn — not only mainstream student and union groups but more radical elements. There may also be groups of self-styled anarchists who, in recent similar gatherings, have resorted to breaking the windows of businesses owned by large corporations.
Most protesters who were interviewed said they were planning only nonviolent demonstrations, sit-ins and a series of vigils and educational workshops. In response to the police announcement yesterday, some predicted mass arrests while others said they still expected nothing but traditional peaceful forms of civil disobedience and street theater.
"We are not the problem," said Larry Holmes, a spokesman for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, which is sponsoring a protest demonstration on Saturday. "We are planning to demonstrate peacefully and we expect to be allowed to exercise our rights. The question must be put to the police: Are they going to engage in mass arrests of peaceful protesters for political reasons and not for legitimate security reasons? And everyone has to be satisfied that they are not."
The police said they planned to use about 3,800 officers a day working in steady 12-hour shifts. Another 700 officers will be ready in case something erupts.
Many of the officers will be working in Manhattan, particularly near the Waldorf-Astoria, on Park and Lexington Avenues from 49th to 50th Streets. But others will be positioned near the airports, certain sites in Brooklyn and Queens and at big commercial stores along Fifth Avenue, like the Gap and Starbucks, that have been targets at past events, one police official said.
There will be a host of street closings and limits on traffic, along with three vehicle checkpoints near the hotel, beginning at 5 a.m. Wednesday.
In outlining the department's tactics three days before the start of the annual gathering, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly indicated yesterday that there would be little tolerance for any unlawful demonstrations.
In a letter to business owners and others near the Waldorf-Astoria, Commissioner Kelly said that plans were in place to have subway operators bypass any station where danger is looming and take passengers to the next stop. Citing conditions in other cities, where protesters posed as regular diners in restaurants before causing disruptions, he wrote: "We will have ample uniformed police officers posed in the vicinity and plainclothed officers elsewhere to respond appropriately."
The police said they would invoke an 1845 law forbidding people in groups to wear masks or hoods in public. Joseph J. Esposito, the chief of department, said: "That is a law that is on the books. And, if three or more people are marching with masks on, they are violating the law and that will not be tolerated. We will arrest them."
In 1999, a three-judge appellate court ruled that the city could enforce the obscure law. That same day, the police arrested members of the Ku Klux Klan who were protesting in Manhattan. Later, however, a Manhattan Criminal Court judge ruled that the law does not apply to peaceful political rallies.
It remains unclear exactly how many demonstrations, whether approved or not approved by the city, will take place, and the police said yesterday that they were still finalizing their plans for permits. It is also unclear how many protesters will take part, though one police official said the authorities believed that the protesters were underestimating the expected turnout as a strategy to minimize the police response.
Last night, the police said they had issued permits for a demonstration by the Central Labor Council at 4:30 p.m. Thursday outside the Gap at 54th Street and Fifth Avenue, and by the Anti-Capitalist Convergence on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m., possibly in Union Square. There are tentative plans for a rally at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the police said.
A permit was also granted for a Saturday protest march beginning at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue, moving east to Lexington Avenue, then south to 53rd Street, where the CitiCorp headquarters is located, and then winding back to a stationary demonstration area south of the Waldorf- Astoria entrance, Mr. O'Looney said.
Groups were also seeking permission for at least two additional stationary protests, one on Friday in Washington Square Park and one on Saturday at Park Avenue just north of 50th Street, the police said.
The area directly in front of the hotel will be tightly restricted from Wednesday to Monday, with no parking and no through traffic allowed, the police said. [end]