Singapore deports Indian activist who had gone to protest against the IMF and World Bank

Singapore deports Indian activist

SINGAPORE: An Indian national, identified merely as "a male activist," has been denied entry into Singapore and deported on the ground that he "posed a potential security and public order threat to the annual meetings" of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) Group.

These meetings will be held here on September 19 and 20. Three days of related seminars precede the main events, while, a day earlier, the chiefs of the IMF and the World Bank will hold a "town-hall meeting" with civil society organisations (CSOs) accredited for this purpose.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has already banned "outdoor demonstrations and processions" for the entire period of these meetings. The City-State's current rules against protest rallies in the public domain could not be waived for foreigners who might intend to resort to such actions, the SPF emphasised.

The unidentified Indian was denied entry on arrival here on Wednesday morning, and deported in the evening. Contacted by The Hindu , an SPF spokesman said on Thursday that "it is inappropriate for us to mention specific details." Besides the Indian, two others, both identified as Filipino activists, were treated similarly in connection with the IMF-WB events.

Link