The Orcs are assembling.
Anyone who has doubts about the size of the protest groups should
read the following article.
BC-SINGAPORE-IMF Anti-IMF protesters to shun Singapore for
Indonesia By Fayen Wong
SINGAPORE, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Over 2,000 activists who plan
protests at the IMF and World Bank conference in Singapore
next
month said they will hold their rallies on a nearby
Indonesian
island because of Singapore's ban on demonstrations.
Trade unionists, farmers and activists from Jubilee South, a
network of non-governmental organisations, plan to demonstrate
on
Batam, less than an hour by boat from Singapore, participating
in
a worldwide protest linking 350 activist groups in 74
countries.
"Since Singapore doesn't respect the rights of people to
express
their views, we are moving the demonstrations to Batam, where
there is more democratic space," Lidya Nacpil, international
coordinator of Jubilee South, told Reuters on Wednesday.
The group is already in touch with Indonesia about logistics,
she said.
Anti-globalisation activists usually gather at similar
international summits, but Singapore will make no exceptions
to
its ban on demonstrations and has said it will arrest
lawbreakers
and cane vandals.
Public protests are rare in Singapore. Any public gathering
of
more than four people requires a police permit and a person
convicted of unlawful assembly can be fined up to S$1,000
($650).
Caning is commonly used as punishment for offences ranging
from
vandalism to drugs. Offenders are strapped to an A-shaped
wooden
frame and lashed across the bare buttocks by a professional
caner
with a rattan rod.
In 1994, Singapore made international headlines when it caned
American teenager Michael Fay for spray-painting cars.
Singapore, which expects over 16,000 delegates and officials
to
descend on the city-state for the Sept. 11-20 World Bank/IMF
meeting, has said outdoor protests are banned because they
could
be exploited by terrorist groups to stage attacks.
The city-state has only conceded that it would allow indoor
protests within a designated area in the lobby of the
conference
venue. The lobby area is smaller than a football field.
According to guidelines issued by the police, activist groups
must not move out of the designated areas, and are not allowed
to
use sound amplification systems or burn items or behave in a
manner that would "provoke a breach of peace". Protesters
must
also be properly attired at all times.
The World Bank has said outdoor protests should be allowed
during the conference, but Singapore police said they would
not
waive the current rules.
"The Bank's preference for these meetings and all others has
been to seek space for civil society to protest peacefully
outside. That remains our preferred position," Peter
Stephens,
spokesman for World Bank Singapore, said in a statement.
Some groups said they plan to organise indoor seminars.
"We still need to maximise our space and make ourselves
heard,
so we will be organising seminars at hotels around the
conference
centre to discuss issues such as agrarian reforms," said
Indra
Lubis, a project assistant at La Via Campesina (The Peasant
Way),
an international group which represents over 80 million
farmers
worldwide.
"But frankly, it is not a very effective way to voice our
concerns. How are the delegates going to hear us when we are
put
in separate rooms?"
- ENDS -
