No IMF Meeting; No Protests Either

For more than half a century--through wars and famines and other world crises--the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank convened their annual meetings without fail. Even massive protests against the groups in recent years did not prevent the economic leaders of 183 member nations from coming together to discuss development, lending and reducing poverty.

But this year, for the first time in their existence, the organizations canceled sessions scheduled for next week in Washington because of the terrorist attacks on America.

The meetings, which were expected to draw 15,000 participants and several times that many demonstrators to Washington, were among scores of conferences, conventions and other events canceled or postponed by governments, business and organizations because of concerns about security and out of deference to the victims and their loved ones.

It remained unclear how long the events of Sept. 11 would interfere with schedules and planning not only in Washington, but across the nation.

The U.N. General Assembly’s annual session of world leaders in New York, the annual gala of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington and the California Dental Assn. convention in San Francisco were among the many events that have been called off or postponed.

Top U.S. officials’ travel plans were scuttled or in flux. President Bush canceled plans to travel to Texas for business and pleasure over the next several days, and his two-week maiden journey through Asia scheduled for next month seems in doubt.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld scrapped plans to attend a NATO defense ministers meeting in Naples, Italy, next week and is sending his deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz, in his place.

And candidates for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, mayor in New York and other elected offices have done the unthinkable this close to an election: They have stopped campaigning.

The prime reason for the cancellations of the IMF and World Bank meetings and the U.N. General Assembly meeting was a desire not to further strain the already overtaxed police and Secret Service, several officials said.

“It was clear that the U.S. government was going to be extremely occupied with security issues of their own,” IMF spokesman William Murray said. “It would be extremely insensitive if we continued to press for U.S. authorities to provide security for our meetings.”

With predictions that as many as 100,000 protesters would flock to Washington for the meetings, large numbers of police officers and Secret Service personnel would have been required.

Most of the demonstrations were called off even before the IMF and World Bank decision, according to Mobilization for Global Justice, one of the organizers.

“We have a sense of humility about this moment. It’s not an appropriate time to be mobilizing people in the way we had planned,” said Robert Weissman, an organizer for the group.

But another group, International Action Center, has decided to take advantage of its planning. It has called its regional offices across the country and directed them to keep the buses full of protesters coming to Washington on Sept. 29, but for a peace march, instead of an anti-globalization demonstration.

“We feel we cannot just look at the situation and mourn. We also have to take action because the potential consequences are so great,” said Richard Becker, a coordinator for the International Action Center, which advocates peace and opposes many Bush administration policies.

Bush was to open the debate of the 189-nation General Assembly on Monday with his first speech to the world body, but New York and federal security forces that normally provide protection for visiting dignitaries have been overwhelmed in the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center.

U.N. spokesman Jan Fischer said the General Assembly decided Tuesday to open the debate later in the year.

New York’s crisis also prompted the General Assembly to delay a global summit on children’s rights scheduled for Wednesday through Friday this week. It was expected to draw leaders from 80 countries to the U.N.’s headquarters in Manhattan. Some groups already had flown in children who were victims of war to take part in the summit.

“They came to ask our help in promoting peace and security in their countries,” said Ken Brown, a spokesman for a New York University group that sponsored five children from Uganda and Sudan. “There is no security here either. Their stories have become our stories.”

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Times staff writer Maggie Farley in New York contributed to this story.