Police Use Limited Force as Protesters Perturb IMF Meetings

By Jason Vest, SpeakOut.com. Posted April 1, 2000.

April 17 -- With the constant buzz of police helicopters overhead, the alternating scents of irritant gas, pepper spray and vinegar, police barricades at intersection after intersection and throngs of protesters expressing themselves in every way -- from chants to banners to puppets to spray-painted graffiti and even partial nudity -- normally catatonic-on-Sunday downtown D.C. was anything but on Sunday.

The events of the day were largely peaceful, and some of them could be considered street theater at its best: elaborate and effective floats depicting the World Bank and IMF as a merciless machine or a bloated, roasting pig; protesters marching with giant head puppets making a mockery of world leaders; shirts adorned with the likes of "My country's getting rich off the policies of the IMF and World Bank, and all I get is this lousy T-shirt"; the beat of makeshift drums; strangers sharing food, water, and in some cases, links of chain to hamper their removal from intersections. "It's gratifying to see something like this come together, especially in downtown Washington," a bandanaed protester from New Hampshire said. "I'm proud to be here."

On Saturday about 600 people were arrested here for parading without a permit, according to police. There were 20 protest-related arrests on Sunday out of an estimated 10,000 to 35,000 people who turned out to demonstrate. Although the scene was hardly comparable to last year's riotous Seattle melee, in several cases police and protesters alike dispensed with restraint and rhetoric, instead opting for bottles, blows and batons. At about 10 a.m. Sunday, a large procession of protesters with black-clad anarchists at their vanguard strode up 14th Street NW, bearing -- in addition to placards and puppets -- fencing and other construction material, some apparently taken from a nearby construction site. As the procession neared the intersection of 14th and I streets, dozens of Metropolitan Police Department officers in squad cars and on motorcycles tore down 14th from the opposite direction. As both forces approached each other, each began to surge; upon reaching the southeast corner of 14th and I, some protesters picked up and kicked or hurled two newspaper boxes. Police entered the intersection and for a moment time seemed to stop, but quickly the police continued to aggressively advance in the face of angry rebukes from demonstrators, at least one of whom hurled a small object at the officers. Then, with no apparent provocation, the police turned and retreated to the middle of 14th Street between I and K, and some protesters scurried in hot pursuit. Others merely wandered or tentatively stood, not quite sure what to expect. Seconds later, at least half a dozen police motorcycles entered the fray, officers using their machines to literally herd protesters toward Franklin Square Park. Right behind them were more billy-club wielding officers, hands on either end of their weapons.

Despite the overall restraint they had displayed earlier, here several officers took a distinctly "hit first, ask questions later" approach, checking anyone in their path. Several reporters narrowly escaped contact. Some protesters remained passive and took the blows -- indeed, some came so quickly they had little chance to respond -- while several others (who apparently did not attend the Mobilization for Global Justice nonviolence training sessions) opted for active resistance. Still others took glancing blows while trying to drag fellow protesters to safety. Officers semipushed, semichased demonstrators well into the park, facilitating the destruction of tulip beds in the process. One protester was hit so hard he literally flew over a park bench. A girl with Day-Glo red hair was checked and flew what appeared to be several yards in a matter of seconds by one officer, who ended his onslaught with a baton blow to her face, leaving her stunned and crying on the sidewalk as she wailed, "I wasn't fighting back!"

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A former associate editor on US News & World Report's business and investigative staffs and former Village Voice writer Jason Vest is a national correspondent for Speakout.com and In These Times. He is also a 2000 Project Censored award-winner.

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