"Business-as-usual" atmosphere in NYC ahead of UN summits

By Huang Xiangyang (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-09-21 15:44

A boy plays in front of climate change posters in Washington Square Park in New York on the Sunday morning (Beijing time Sunday evening) before a Global Climate Week event. [Huang Xiangyang/China Daily]

NEW YORK: A "business-as-usual" atmosphere prevails as world leaders gather at the UN headquarters this week for a series of summits to discuss climate change, nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, and other major world issues.

A police vehicle outside the UN headquaters [Huang Xiangyang/China Daily]

Several police vans parked on the streets near the UN buildings, and policemen with patrol dogs could be seen in nearby blocks. The New York City police authorities announced traffic control in the vicinity of the summit venue, which began at 2 am on Sunday (US time), but traffic flow on the First Avenue, by which the UN headquarters stands, did not seem thinner than the day before. Tour buses stopped by one after another.

Outside the UN compound, a tour guide surnamed Liang was trying to comfort several complaining tourists, who found the UN tour had been canceled because of the upcoming events. "What you can see inside will be only conference halls, none of them as big as the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, which can hosts more than 10,000 people at a time," said Liang from Ritz Tour.

A woman from Sichuan said she did not know the UN building would be closed to tourists beginning Sunday. "Otherwise I would have come yesterday".

A UN security guard said the venue will be closed for tourists for the whole week during the session.

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Inside the UN compound, a temporary tent has been set up for media accreditation. It only takes several minutes for a journalist to get registered. A staff member said he did not know how many journalists in total will come for the event, "but the number of US reporters has doubled to about 150 because President Barack Obama will be here for several days".

One block away, opposite the UN compound across the street, several lobby groups have already set up their camps in preparation for protests during the summit.

Min Shwe Oo, media contact person of a Myanmar rights group which calls for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, said he had been there demonstrating every year during the UN sessions for the past six years.

"In terms of security, there is no difference this year" he said. "Everything is as usual".

A huge banner on climate change hung outside a conference building in the UN headquarters in New York.[Huang Xiangyang/China Daily]

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