Top officials at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are strongly in favor of canceling or postponing their annual meetings in downtown Washington at the end of this month in the wake of terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, according to sources at the two institutions.
The sources at the fund and the bank said they are awaiting final word from the U.S. government -- the official host of the meetings -- before making a decision. They cited the likely strain on D.C. police if the meetings were held and, in particular, the burden imposed on the New York City police department, which was expected to send 1,000 officers to assist with security.
_____IMF Protests_____
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"A delay is in the air," said one high-ranking official who attended a meeting yesterday morning of the IMF's executive board, where the issue was briefly discussed.
The two international financial institutions, which each represent 183 nations, are examining alternatives, including putting off the meetings for a few weeks or conducting their necessary business by e-mail or other electronic hookup. The final decision would largely depend on the advice of Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill, who was returning to Washington yesterday from Tokyo.
District police officials have stated that they would recommend the IMF and World Bank cancel their meetings, saying that the capital would not be ready so soon after Tuesday's tragedy to deal with a raucous series of demonstrations. Police have estimated that as many as 100,000 protesters would fill the streets of Washington, though some activists dispute those numbers.
"The position of the department is they not have the meeting," D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said yesterday. "We think it poses a huge security risk. . . . In two weeks, we'll still be burying people. We'll still be in the middle of the tragedy. In my opinion, it's not appropriate that that particular thing move forward."
D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) also has said that canceling the meetings was an idea that needed to be explored further.
Representatives of the two world economic bodies said no decision had been made. Privately, however, several officials and staff members at the World Bank and IMF said they expect the meetings to be put off temporarily.
Outright cancellation might look "too much like capitulation" to terrorism, the official who attended the IMF meeting said, "but I think the U.S. authorities will not want to add further risk to the downtown Washington area so soon."
In recent months, both the World Bank and the IMF have taken the counsel of law enforcement as they plan the meetings. It was after consultation with D.C. police and federal officials that the World Bank and IMF broke a 20-year tradition and moved a plenary session from a Woodley Park hotel to their headquarters downtown. It was also law enforcement's advice that caused the institutions to shorten the meetings from seven days to one weekend -- Sept. 29 and 30.
Police preparations for the demonstrations have been unprecedented, with city leaders recently asking the federal government to help pay for a $29 million security plan, which includes recruiting out-of-town police officers and the possible installation of fencing in and around downtown.
Protest organizers were uncertain yesterday what impact the cancellation of the meetings would have on their plans. More than a dozen groups -- including environmentalists, human rights activists, anti-capitalists and labor organizers -- have been planning to come to Washington. Many are calling for an end to World Bank and IMF policies that they say hinder the world's poor and are demanding debt cancellation for impoverished countries.
If the meetings are postponed, activists said they still have two options: protest anyway or delay demonstrations until the meetings are held. Organizers said they worry that the terrorist attacks would increase aggression by law enforcement against demonstrators and turn an already tense situation into a nightmare. Organizers also are weighing whether to hold massive demonstrations during a period of national mourning.
Yesterday, with anti-globalization activists distracted by the terrorist hijackings and destruction, the gears of a nationwide mobilization campaign ground to a temporary halt. News conferences were postponed, and a training camp in Virginia for nonviolent direct action scheduled to begin tomorrow was canceled.
A meeting scheduled for last night of the Mobilization for Global Justice, one of the main D.C.-based coalitions, was canceled -- the first time since early summer that the group would not assemble for the weekly gathering at a Mount Pleasant church. "There's just a broad sense among everybody that it's too soon to do anything," said Robert Weissman, an organizer.
Other coalitions, including the Anti-Capitalist Convergence and the AFL-CIO, also said it was too early to say what they would do if the meetings were canceled.
