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Protesters 'beat' World Bank
By Ben Fenton in Washington
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac0579381554028&rtmo=pUhINsBe&atmo=99999999
&pg=/et/01/5/22/wglob22.html
World Bank cancels conference in Barcelona [21 May '01] - World Bank
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THE World Bank's decision to call off its meeting in Barcelona next month
is a "victory without parallel", say anti-capitalist protesters.
Anarchists, communists and other leaders of the planned protest had been
preparing to confront 4,000 riot policemen who were being mobilised to
prevent demonstrators disrupting the gathering of 200 academics and World
Bank officials. The bank decided instead to hold its conference via an
internet video-conference link.
The Washington-based organisation has had several meetings, including its
annual meeting in Prague last year, disrupted by anti-globalisation
protests. The Czech meeting was ended a day early because of fighting in
which more than 100 police were hurt. But the bank denied that its actions
were a concession to those who threatened violence.
Caroline Anstey, a spokesman, said: "It is not a cave-in. It is the
opposite. To have 200 academics protected by 4,000 police, which is what was
planned, would have been absurd. Despite our efforts to reach out to some of
the groups planning demonstrations, and to include them in the conference,
the intention of many who planned to converge on Barcelona was not to
contribute constructively to the discussion, but to disrupt it.
"We do not want to expose academics from around the world and our hosts in
Spain to such a situation. It is time to take a stand against this kind of
threat to free discussion." The protesters were elated by the decision and
mocked the World Bank's depiction of the cancellation as a tough stand
against intimidation.
A spokesman for the Barcelona Campaign Co-ordination Commission said: "For
the first time in history, they have cancelled one of their meetings because
of the prospect of people's power rising up against them."
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