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UN to be in Lock Down Mode For Meeting of World Leaders

NEW YORK, Sep 14 2017 (IPS) - President Donald Trump’s appearance before the UN General Assembly next week will be accompanied by tight security measures by local and federal law enforcement agencies, including the New York Police Department (NYPD), the US Secret Service and UN Security.

The 72nd session of the General Assembly, which will be attended by over 150 world leaders, will be a “first” both for Trump and for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a former Prime Minister of Portugal, who took office in January 2017.

The security measures will include road closures, rooftop snipers and heavy concrete barriers to thwart the entry of any vehicles that could be used in terrorist attacks. The UN will be in a lock down mode – and will continue to be so until all of the world leaders leave town by end September.

According to the NYPD, thousands of police officers will be deployed outside the UN perimeter—and residents in the neighborhood will be checked and double-checked before they are permitted to cross from Second to First Avenue. So will UN delegates, staffers and journalist, even with valid UN passes.

All UN retirees, representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and visitors, however, will be banned from the UN neighborhood even if they are armed with passes. And the UN precincts will be a restricted security zone.

The Police is also expecting anti-Trump protestors in the city—along with a march to combat “white supremacy” that will begin outside the Grand Central Terminal.

A left-wing group Code Pink has organized a march to protest Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Among other planned protests will be a rally against Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, mostly by Iranian dissidents in the US.