Some 150 left-wing students demonstrated outside the International Monetary Fund (IMF) offices in Istanbul Tuesday in a protest coinciding with the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Prague.
"Damn the IMF, damn imperialism; action, anarchy rebellion," chanted the protestors outside the high-rise building in the posh district of Gaziosmanpasa, which houses the IMF office as well as the representation of the European Union.
Some 100 police officers in riot gear kept a close watch on the demonstration, organized by some 15-university student unions from Ankara, Istanbul and the western city of Izmir.
Police did not intervene to disperse the gathering.
A statement read out by a protestor blasted as hypocritical the intention of the general assembly of the IMF and the World Bank to deal with the issue of third world poverty.
"Those who created the poverty can never prevent it. Whenever the imperialists powers have come together to take decisions, those decisions have always been against oppressed peoples and laborers," the statement said.
The protestors also lambasted a four-million-dollar three-year stand-by deal the Turkish government signed with the IMF last year and the state of the country's economy.
"The fact that the IMF has opened an office in Ankara and (IMF Turkey desk chief) Carlo Cottarelli's remarks for fine-tuning in the economy shows that Turkey is tied to imperialism, through the IMF, with an umbilical cord," the statement said.
Following the announcement, the demonstrators dispersed peacefully.
In Prague, police used tear gas and water cannon during protests by about 5,000 anti-globalization activists who sought to surround the conference center where the IMF and World Bank leaders were meeting.
The response came after anarchists threw rocks and other objects at security forces manning a barricade set up to hold back thousands of protesters.
In another incident near the heavily guarded Congress Center, demonstrators from the militant Italian group "Ya Basta!" scuffled with anti-riot police as they tried to break through a police cordon.
Protesters had vowed to disrupt the meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank – (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
