WTO summit security fears grow; Dick Lee says police do not have sufficient information

With the World Trade Organization 6th Ministerial Conference just six months away, foreign governments are increasingly nervous about security preparations for the meeting amid worries that anti-globalization protesters could seek to disrupt the high profile talks.

Western officials say they have yet to receive plans from the Hong Kong police regarding security and logistical plans for the December meeting.

Officials told The Standard they want to be included in the process of planning security before the talks begin. That has not happened - and countries that will be sending delegates to the WTO meeting are becoming nervous.

'That's quite accurate,'' Daryl Lau, political consul for the Singapore Consulate General, said of the diplomatic concern. 'I think the minute details have yet to be worked out.''

The police have little to say on the matter because, as Nelson Ng, chief information officer for the police public relations branch, said, 'We haven't actually got the plan put together.''

Ng said police have yet to receive any notice from protesters, and so security preparations have been delayed.

``That is why we are saying that [this] is all we can tell,'' said Ng. ``We haven't received any formal notification [for] holding protests at MC6, peaceful or otherwise,'' said Ng.

Requests for interviews with police officials were declined.

The Hong Kong People's Alliance, the central coordinating body for NGOs coming to the WTO meeting, has said it is waiting to file plans with the police until it is told what the ground rules will be for protests, including how close they will be able to get to the convention center.

Commissioner of Police Dick Lee said Monday the police have no idea how many demonstrators to expect, or what will happen. ``We do not have sufficient information,'' he said.

Past WTO meetings - notably Seattle in 1999 and Cancun in 2003 - have been flashpoints for protests that have paralyzed or disrupted the proceedings.

It takes a tremendous amount of planning to keep things moving ``fluidly,'' the official said, noting the experience of other cities that have seen protests lead to riots or violence.

``We wonder if Hong Kong is quite aware of that,'' the official said.

Minor incidents like traffic jams in a city of Hong Kong's size may lead to confusion and stress for VIPs who need appropriate security and the ability to move from place to place in a hurry.

Specific concerns range from whether or not there will be designated traffic lanes for VIPs, to whether luxury hotels connected to open shopping centers will have security agents in place in time.

Another official, from a European Union member state, said he is not sure Hong Kong has the experience to handle the WTO's complexities.

``They haven't the experience of organizing such a big event, especially in terms of security,'' he said. ``They maybe [have] underestimated the scope of the problems.''

The European official said his country and the European Union are waiting for Hong Kong authorities to say more about information requests that were made a few months ago.

He fears that things are on hold because of Donald Tsang's campaign for chief executive.

He hoped that WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell and local Ministerial Conference coordinator Janet Wong would address security issues at a press conference today.

Wong earlier said that security preparations were not something she could freely discuss with the public.

Police spokesman Ng confirmed that police have decided that security agents inside hotels are not their responsibility.

The police have also avoided so far revealing anything specific about how malls and luxury hotels will be protected.

Foreign officials say they urgently need to know what their governments need to do to supplement security as far as budget planning or resource allocation are concerned, said one official.

``We would like to hear more. We're just trying to fit into security arrangements,'' he said.

Previous WTO talks - and the violence-plagued G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, in 2001 - have proven that it takes a tremendous amount of work to organize such talks to prevent protesters from bringing them to a halt.

In Genoa, anarchists - working in a spontaneous gathering called the ``Black Bloc'' - battled security police and overturned vehicles.

A protester, Carlo Giuliani, was run over and killed by a military police vehicle.

The European official confirmed worries over hotel security, saying it is his delegation's position that ``You cannot let the hotel deal with this type of security problem.''

``[Hong Kong authorities] don't want the meeting to be an obstacle to tourism. It's a free economy,'' said the official.

He speculated that Hong Kong was taking a ``free market'' approach in asking hotels to set up their own security.

Up to 20,000 delegates and officials are expected for the WTO meeting, with perhaps another 10,000 NGO representatives and potential protesters.