UN RAPPED ON AIDS

East Side Rally Demands Funding to Fight Scourge

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets near the United Nations
yesterday to chastise world leaders for failing to do more to combat
the AIDS pandemic, which has killed 25 million people.

Earlier, police arrested 21 AIDS activists after they chained
themselves together in the lobby of a building on E. 45th St. that
houses the U.S. Mission to the UN.

The activists carried a placard demanding the U.S. delegation to this
week's General Assembly special session on AIDS commit to more
funding for AIDS research and "HIV prevention based on science, not ideology."

As the eight women and 13 men were led out of the building in plastic
cuffs, supporters outside chanted, "End AIDS now."

A handful had to be carried out.

Sean Barry, 24, of Annapolis, Md., said he felt getting the message
out - that the Bush administration has spent over $1 billion on
abstinence-only programs - was worth getting arrested over.

"There is no evidence they work, and there's evidence that they are
actually harmful," Barry said.

World leaders are meeting at the UN this week to hash out new plans
to combat AIDS, which kills 8,000 people every day worldwide.

But protesters - and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan - said the world
has fallen far short of fulfilling the pledges made at a similar
gathering five years ago.

"A lot of people are very, very angry at the UN for not holding up to
their promises," said Brooklyn-born actress and AIDS activist Rosie
Perez, who led a rally near the UN in Manhattan.

A U.S. Mission spokesman defended the U.S. contribution to fighting
AIDS, noting the Bush administration is on track to exceed the $15
billion pledged in 2002 to fight HIV/AIDS.