VOA常速英语:Security Tight Around UN General Assembly

NEW YORK — The United Nations General Assembly, every September, brings together leaders from around the world.

The U.N. has turned into a fortress. Streets are blocked off. Police are everywhere, automatic weapons at the ready. But this tough security can cause headaches for New Yorkers.

The New York Police Department and the U.S. Coast Guard are patrolling the waters and skies to make sure the U.N. is safe.

Guy Long, a New Yorker, said it’s been a familiar site all week.

"I live on Roosevelt Island. So I see all the boats and everything, police and Coast Guard. So they really do put a cordon around here,” he said.

Barriers block off sidewalk after sidewalk, and getting around can get pretty confusing if you don’t have the right credentials.

Even with the right paperwork, people still have to navigate the jam-packed streets near the U.N.

“It’s just been kind of madness," one resident said."I know, for the people that take cabs to get around, it’s been almost impossible to get anywhere.”

But for one group, in New York to represent the Center for Public Health Nigeria, the traffic jams and chaotic sidewalks are a small price to pay.

“Very tough but I like the security arrangement," said Okorochukwu Cfine. "It’s safe for everybody to get in and also everybody feels secure inside.”

Visitors and residents agree that when it comes to security, it’s better to have too much than too little. So the "friendly faces" of New York's NYPD won’t be going away anytime soon.