Wednesday: Logistical Nightmares

Well, as the title of this post suggests, this conference seems to have turned into a logistical nightmare. I've just made it into the conference center this morning and mostly by luck. Let me lay out the situation:

A group of us woke up at 6 this morning to make it to the conference early to make sure we were able to get inside. We hopped on the bus as usual, and thought that we were good to go. Instead, the bus stopped at a curb under a bridge and announced that we had arrived. The conference center was maybe a quarter of a mile away. We approached a barricade to try to get through toward the center, but the guard told us we had to go around to another side of the whole complex. It was a strange order, given that the official COP15 bus had dropped us off there. The mob of which I was a part rushed around the center, and came to a series of barricades and lines that had been set up to let delegates, press, and NGOs inside. In the rush, our group got split up, and although I'm inside, I worry that the others have been caught in a line. Given that one student waited for several hours yesterday to get in, only to be turned away, I wonder how long they will be, or if they will make it at all (this was the same student who was unable to get in on Monday as well.)

There's a growing sense that NGO observers are ignored or even unwelcome at this conference. At the panel of US legislative aids I attended yesterday, one speaker commented that the conference seems to have stalled because its become more of a trade show than a series of international negotiations, seeming to imply that the observers should leave. This morning, I heard more than one grumbling that it seems they don't want us here. And I've just overheard that registration for NGOs has been canceled for the day.

All that aside, I'm now inside and I'm going to make the most of it. There are a number of good talks scheduled for the day, including one by John Kerry. The important people are starting to arrive.

Edit: Turns out that my fellow students did get in. But unexpectedly, no NGOs were allowed entry after 12 today even if they had the proper passes and identification, and the delegates of some NGOs were denied access throughout the day. Meanwhile, the Danish police beat protesters outside the Belle Center.