NYC arrests coverage in the Guardian

Five Arrests At World Forum In Nyc

Thursday January 31, 2002 6:30 PM

NEW YORK (AP) - Wearing matching yellow scarves, followers of a banned Chinese spiritual movement demonstrated peacefully on one of the nation's ritziest streets Thursday as the heavily guarded World Economic Forum got under way two blocks away.

With Park Avenue workers peering down from their offices, several hundred Falun Gong practitioners exercised in unison to music blaring from a loudspeaker and passed out informational fliers. They said they wanted to raise awareness about China's crackdown on their movement.

Down the street, about a dozen members of the environmental group Friends of the Earth were outnumbered by reporters and camera crews as they waved cardboard cutouts of game show host Anne Robinson and chanted, ``WEF, you are the weakest link - goodbye!''

By noon, police reported their first arrests - five women charged with trespassing and reckless endangerment in lower Manhattan for climbing to a building rooftop and unfurling a banner that read, ``Bush and big biz agree that people with AIDS drop dead.''

Police also reported a handful of vandalism incidents at several chain businesses around Manhattan, with one arrest. Chain stores have been targeted in the past by demonstrators upset at large international companies pursuing worldwide markets at the expense of local businesses.

Police were ready for any escalation from the thousands of demonstrators expected to flood the nation's financial capital to protest the economic forum. Violence has marred recent international meetings in Seattle, Canada, Sweden, Italy and elsewhere.

``I hope it's going to be peaceful,'' police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. ``That's all I can say.''

Hundreds of police officers, some armed with submachine guns, were deployed across midtown Manhattan. A section around the Waldorf was declared a frozen zone and concrete barriers blocked streets.

Across town, police with plastic handcuffs dangling from their belts assembled to wait for any protests in other areas. Other officers grabbed coffee from a nearby van on a raw January morning.

On West 44th Street, home of the Broadway shows ``The Producers'' and ``Chicago,'' a half-dozen police vans, one police car and an NYPD truck were parked. At Rockefeller Center, two blocks from the Waldorf, steel barricades blocked traffic near the plaza.

During the morning rush, uniformed police far outnumbered workers hurrying to their jobs inside the security zone.

Stephen MacKay, a business analyst from Switzerland, said he hadn't had any trouble walking along Park Avenue to Grand Central Terminal. ``I don't think I've ever seen more police in my life,'' he said.

MacKay has watched previous World Economic Forums in Davos, Switzerland, about two hours from his home, and was impressed by the calm in New York. ``We're sort of curious to see how it's going to go here,'' he said.

City leaders announced a tough stance on public order. Officials said police would arrest anyone caught jaywalking or littering and also would enforce a 19th century law barring groups of demonstrators from wearing masks. Kelly said Thursday that the mask statute would be used only against protesters hiding their identity while committing crimes.

Leaders of the protesting groups insisted that daily demonstrations demanding justice for the world's poor and for developing nations would be loud but peaceful.

A labor coalition was set to protest Thursday afternoon outside a Gap store on Fifth Avenue near the Waldorf, demonstrating against alleged sweatshop labor.

The biggest demonstrations are expected Saturday, when two major protest groups plan successive rallies on Park Avenue near the Waldorf.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-1486292,00.html