Koh Gui Qing
Reuters
17 Sep 06
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-09-17T160027Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-267987-1.xml
Around 48 activists from 16 countries who wanted to attend the IMF-World Bank meetings or related events in Singapore have been deported, banned or interrogated by police, a rights group said on Sunday.
The organizers of the International People’s Forum on the Indonesian island of Batam — where NGOs are staging an alternative meeting — said that 12 activists had been deported, 27 had been warned they might be questioned or turned away and nine had been interrogated at Singapore’s Changi airport.
Singapore police declined to comment.
Singapore, which is hosting the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings, was strongly criticised by the two international agencies for blacklisting several activists. Nearly 500 representatives of non-governmental organisations had registered for the event.
Forum officials told a news conference that 12 activists were deported from Singapore as they arrived at Changi airport and before they could make their way to Batam, a 40-minute ferry ride from Singapore. Forum officials declined to give any names.\