Reuters-Czech Border Jams As Police Check IMF Protesters
by reuters 12:12pm Fri Sep 15 '00

PRAGUE, Sep 15, 2000 -- (Reuters) Czech border crossings were jammed on Thursday after police imposed tough checks in order to keep potential trouble makers out of the country during IMF/World Bank meetings in Prague later this month.

Motorists waited as long as six hours at some crossings on the western border with Germany while border officers conducted extensive controls.

Police expect about 20,000 Czech and foreign protesters to flood Prague to demonstrate against International Monetary Fund and World Bank policies during the institutions' annual meetings on September 26-28.

"There are large queues. We check nearly every vehicle," a border officer at the Rozvadov/Waidhaus crossing told Reuters by telephone. Czech television reported the situation at other border points was similar.

Police have said they would tolerate non-violent protests during the meetings but also imposed tough documents checks and car searches to keep out of the country foreign protesters who might disrupt order.

Police will have 11,000 officers on duty to prevent potential disruptions of the meetings which will bring some 20,000 of the world's top financiers to Prague.

INPEG, an organization preparing many of the protests, said the police approach smacked of the Communist era.

"This shows that police practices are getting back to how they used to be 15 years ago," INPEG spokesman Viktor Piorecky told Reuters. Four INPEG activists were denied access on Wednesday but were reported to be allowed in on Thursday.

Various non-government organizations have announced over 200 marches, happenings and demonstrations for the time of the IMF/World Bank meetings.

Some of the organizers took part in protests against the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle last year that saw riots sweep that city's streets as protestors rampaged.

In Washington in April, an IMF meeting also saw massive protests erupt, prompting police to use tear gas and pepper spray to disperse demonstrators.

The protesters say IMF and World Bank projects damage the environment and serve multinational companies rather than people in poor countries.

FYI / two glimpses reg bordering
 http://www.no-racism.net/MUND/archiv/archiv.htm
15.9.



04 Up-date, Prag 2

 http://www.inpeg.ecn.cz
MANY PEOPLE COMING TO CZECH REPUBLIC DURING THESE DAYS ARE HAVING PROBLEMS AND AREN'T ALLOWED TO ENTER. WHEN CROSSING THE BORDER, PLEASE DON'T CARRY ANY FLAGS, BANNERS ETC.
IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS ON THE BORDER, PLEASE CALL +420 604 556309 OR +420 604 456 176. WE WILL DO AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE TO
HELP YOU.

05 Up-date, Prag 3

Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 19:00:04 +0200
Hi all, here more information on the people of the dutch Collective Rampenplan, still stucked at the Czech border. A high policeman could find no technical problems with the bus of Rampenplan.
They are at the CZ border since yesterday afternoon. The policeman proposed to them to go back to the German border (they are between the two borders at the moment) and try both
bordercrossings again. In the main time they have all kind of stamps in their passports and a ban for Czech Republic untill the 30th of september (i wrote yesterday for 30 days which was a mistake). When they will return to Germany it will cost them about 9 hours to cross both borders the policeman told them. We wonder if this is not a proposal to get rid of them at the Czech border and back to Germany. There is a lot of presscoverage because of the refusal to let a buss with cooks and cookinggear come into the Czech Republic. The policeman could not give them the guarantee they could enter the Czech Republic after waiting for 9 hours. I'll keep you informed, carla
From: infocentrum wageningen AUTONOOM POLITIEK INFOCENTRUM Burgtstraat 3 NL-6701 DA Wageningen Giro 3464211 tel: 0317- 423 588 fax 0317- 450144
website  http://www.bos.nl/homes/infocent
More info about S26 and Praha:
 http://inpeg.ecn.cz and
 http://x21.org/s26