Trouble likely at World Bank, IMF meet

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, AUG. 18. The District of Columbia police here are gearing for the planned demonstrations at the time of the Annual Meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. And the prediction is that the number of protesters could be as high as 100,000 and some real trouble expected in the process.

In a letter to the President, Mr. George W Bush, the Mayor of the District has warned of demonstrations ``of an intensity, scope and magnitude that we have never seen in this city''. The local police are estimating that the cost to the department - which would mean requisitioning services of law enforcement from neighbouring states - will be in the neighbourhood of $40 millions. Hence, consultations with the Federal Government on who is going to pick up the tab and in what fashion.

Washington D.C. was witness to some demonstrations - mostly peaceful and with little damage to property - during the Spring Meetings in April 2000, but this time around, after what has been seen recently in Quebec City and Genoa, the impression is that the anti-globalisation protests are going to be large and intensive with possible extensive damage to property. The planning for this Annual Meeting is serious and intense; and authorities have doubled the estimate of demonstrators in the last month.

The Annual Meetings of the Bank and the Fund are normally a week- long affair. But this time around it has been pruned to just two days over the last weekend in September.

And with a view to causing least inconvenience to those who live and work in the City, the Bank/Fund Meetings will not be held at the usual Hotel in Woodley Park; rather the get-together of the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors will be in the facilities of the two international financial institutions.

Organisers of the planned protests and activists are saying that the authorities are deliberately using high figures and talking about violence so as to deny permits for demonstrations.

The 100,000 figure is as high as what the protests in Genoa, Italy, recently attracted in which one person was killed. Critics maintain that the D.C. police authorities are trying to paint a picture of civil war.

In April 2000, the strength of the protestors was put at around 20,000; and authorities had cordoned off large areas of the city in and around the World Bank/IMF.

The area is also a high security zone because of the location of The White House. This time too plans are under way to put up high metal barriers and close down a number of streets even while allowing for some demonstrations.

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Section  : International
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