UN summit triggers New York security clampdown

NEW YORK--New York has gone into security gridlock with 170 world leaders descending on the city for this week's UN summit and general assembly which marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the world body.

"This is a general assembly like no other," said New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who is deploying 4,000 officers for what will be the city's largest security operation since last year's Republican National Convention.

The massive police contingent will complement the Secret Service details assigned as personal security to each of the heads of state and government attending the September 14-16 summit and the General Assembly which lasts through September 28.

Specialized counter-terrorist units are also being deployed, with memories still fresh of the attacks on the London transport system ahead of the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Scotland.

"We have put in additional security programs throughout the city because we can't just focus all of our resources in Manhattan around the UN," Kelly said.

"We have to be concerned about something happening of an untoward nature on a large scale in other parts of the city," he added.

Street closures were already in force on Monday around some landmark hotels in midtown Manhattan as early presidential arrivals held bilateral meetings ahead of the summit opening.

The tightest security was within a perimeter thrown around the UN's riverside headquarters in eastern Manhattan.

"Taxis and other sedans with business in the block will be allowed to enter after being checked for bombs and explosives," a police spokesman said. "Vehicles entering any underground parking garage will be subject to bomb screening."

The East River itself will be subject to temporary closures during the summit, with the US Coast Guard patrolling the waterway in coordination with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

Special air space restrictions, including a seven-mile (11-kilometer) no-fly zone will also be in force during the duration of the summit.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq said security staff at the world body's headquarters had held numerous meeting in recent days with all the concerned US agencies to ensure the protection of all leaders attending the event.

"However, in order for the security procedures to be effective, we are not carrying any specifics about it," Haq said.

Military officials at the US Northern Command, which is responsible for defending against a terrorist attack on US soil, said they were prepared to respond to any threat, even though thousands of troops are involved in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi.

"We're watching the terrorist situation ... very, very carefully," Admiral Timothy Keating, the US Northern Command chief, told reporters earlier this week.

Both Keating and Commissioner Kelly stressed there was no evidence of a terrorist threat specifically targeting the UN gathering.

New York City has remained on a heightened level of alert ever since the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, and security on the city's transport networks was stepped up in the wake of the London bombings.

Among the world leaders attending the event are US President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao.