By ten o’clock this morning actions had begun about five blocks from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Friends of the Earth, who initially planned to greet members of the WEF outside the Waldorf, gathered instead down the street where they were permitted to demonstrate in a pen no more than half a block long and about fifteen feet wide. Friends of the Earth held up signs that read “WEF = GLOBAL CORPORATE TAKEOVER. YOU ARE THE WEAKEST LINK, GOODBYE.” Holding up face cards with a likeness of Ann Robinson, the group chanted in front of press and police cameras. When asked about the realistic chance of actually speaking to the executives from the WEF, Carol Welch from Friends of the Earth said that creating an image for the press was just as important.

Along side the “Weakest Link” demonstration stood more than hundered practicioners of Falun Dafa, a Chinese self cultivation practice that is centered around truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. As many meditated, they held banners and passed out pamphlets that criticized the Chinese stae for its persecution of adherents to Falun Dafa. The pamphlets report that over 1600 people have been tortured to death, while 25,000 have been sent to labor camps for practicing Falun Dafa.

As the NYPD has officers posted at virtually every bank, Starbucks and McDonalds in Manhattan, the Upper East Side alone has over 3800 officers on 12 hour shifts posted as guards in locations like these. The NYPD has a vast array of enforcement personell on the street, from plain clothes officers to machine gunmen. The sealed off perimiter around the Waldorf extends for blocks as uniformed cops ask for ID at checkpoints. As the NYC IMC has already had undercover cops posted outside their door, the effort to maintain low tensions is a seemingly impossible task.