WASHINGTON -- Though the World Bank/International Monetary Fund protesters have definitely introduced the concept of fear of corporate globalism to a fat and happy America, it would be tough to construe their rallies and marches here as an overwhelming success. Monday's rally, scheduled to take place on the Ellipse between the White House and the Mall, was canceled due to inclement weather, though many skeptics wondered if the protest's dwindling numbers also contributed to the organizers' decision.
But the real winners this weekend were the Washington police, who showed that when given carte blanche to keep the peace, they are more than willing to overprepare and overreact. By Sunday night, 725 protesters had been arrested -- many just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, others having resorted to hostility or violence, some with scars they'll be able to show their grandkids.
Throughout the weekend, the Metropolitan Police Department prepared for the worst and displayed what many saw as unnecessary zeal. Humvees and cops in full riot gear squared off against scrawny hippies, motorcycles were used as street sweepers, red-herring "fire violations" were trotted out to close down the protesters' headquarters. All weekend long, small eruptions of brutality were used as a warning sign and reminder of the cops' license to kick ass.
On Monday morning, since the police department had urged Washingtonians to skip work, many normally bustling city streets in downtown were abandoned. It was a post-apocalyptic vision, with sirens blaring and whistles shrieking, which was then interrupted by a disconcerting, deadening, silence.
For the most part, the police tactics worked -- at least by the narrow definition of success set by Mayor Tony Williams and Police Chief Charles Ramsey. The IMF and World Bank meetings went on pretty much as planned with seemingly few inconveniences inflicted upon their boards, and many protesters who stuck around through Monday seemed dedicated but terrified.
Monday morning at the intersection of 20th and Pennsylvania Avenue, for instance, a few hundred protesters staged one final effort at civil disobedience. Dozens tried to break through barricades into the area around the IMF and World Bank buildings that police had cordoned off, while still others sat in the middle of the intersection blocking traffic.
Cops were having none of that -- they pepper-sprayed to get people to move, and arrested 250 for charges ranging from crossing a police line to "incommoding" -- blocking public access. Many were chased down and clubbed to the ground. And though the department maintains it only uses pepper spray, one officer threw a tear-gas canister, which was later said to have been a simple mistake.
By noon, 20th and Pennsylvania had become Ground Zero for what was left of the rallies. Hundreds of protesters stood facing the armada of cops, almost all of whom were wearing body armor, helmets and gas masks. Tension hung in the air like a noose. That is, except for this one time when a protester shouted, "We're tired! We're cranky! Shut the World Banky!"
Ramsey was out in full force, of course, for his men and women in blue. Ramsey has always been brilliant at public relations and his performance this weekend was no exception. The Washington media has generally made not a peep about some of his force's more egregious displays of bullying and brutality. No doubt much of this is due to the common man's historical and fundamental distrust of rabble-rousers. Still more indifference can be chalked up to the cluelessness and odd appearances of many of the visiting anarchists, as well as the inconvenience their visit displayed. On the area's leading "alternative" radio station, WHFS-FM, Monday morning, the DJs were mocking the protesters' hippie ways.
As always, at 20th and Pennsylvania, much of the dirty work fell into the lap of executive assistant chief of police Terrance Gainer, Ramsey's right-hand man. Gainer plowed his way through his army -- one of the protesters had the foresight to blare a tape of the Darth Vader theme from "Star Wars" -- and ambled up to the barricade where he was instructed to find out how to bring the conflict to a peaceful resolution. At this point there were far too many television cameras there for Gainer to give the cops the go-ahead to start busting.
Out in the crowd, three or four large, muscled men, quickly pegged as undercover cops, stood on a corner and tried to make themselves look inconspicuous. It didn't work -- Serpico these guys were not. Protesters started chanting "Cops! Cops!" and pointing them out to others.
Soon a small crowd had surrounded them. "Why don't you show your badges?!" a number of them cried. Their cover blown (perhaps the plastic handcuffs on the belt were a bit of a giveaway), the "cops" soon walked off and protesters applauded, pleased with their accomplishment. It would be their only one of the day.
Back at the border of Copland-Phishtown, protesters handed Gainer flowers -- a bouquet that he held onto for several hours. On the right, at the scene is department public information czar Sgt. Joseph Gentile. Protesters were very aware of the presence of the media, and took great pains to be seen as the good guys. Some sang "We Shall Overcome," though they didn't seem all that familiar with the lyrics.
Since the protest movement has no real leader -- its members shun hierarchy -- it just so happened that the designated negotiator was a woman who identified herself as Mary Bull. Bull is shown here calling out to her fellow "Tactical Team" members.
They'd then retreat to a small huddle where they'd vote on the various negotiations with Gainer. Hundreds of protesters faced a conundrum: They wanted to make an attempt to get to the World Bank building and stage a protest, but none wanted to be whacked upside the head with a billy club. Thus, they negotiated with Gainer as to 1) whether the cops would remove their gas masks and display their badges as a show of good faith and a tangible sign that no one would be gassed or brutalized; 2) how many steel barricades would go down. The protesters wanted six, the cops said two; and 3) how many protesters, arms linked, could walk through the barricade and down the street a few yards before getting -- peacefully -- arrested. The negotiators wanted 15, the cops had wanted one at a time, single file.
As Ramsey surveyed the scene, one protester shouted to him, "Hey, Chief! Are you going to gas us?!" Ramsey said "No." And sure enough, after hours upon tedious hours of negotiations, the cops removed their gas masks. Many protesters took this to be a major victory, though others could be heard griping at the essential wimpiness of this particular altercation. "Ramsey looks like he's the one who made peace!" groused a protester. His friend tried to reassure him: "If they [the media] use anything, they'll say that the protesters gave the policemen flowers, which will make us look good," she said.
... Meanwhile, as Bull told the crowd, "the people who are willing to risk arrest will come forward and then sit down." ("... And then crawl on hands and knees," sneered one disappointed protester.) "And one row at a time will stand up, and walk to the World Bank and there the police will arrest us." Here a member of the National Lawyers Guild, there to monitor the events on behalf of the protesters, checks to make sure that no one from the front row has any medical problems they'd need attention for in prison.
Finally: a tremendous anticlimax. Bull and wave after wave of protester peacefully entered the barricade and were promptly arrested, around 300 in all, putting the arrest total as of Monday afternoon at around 1,250.
I was told that Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon were in the house, but I didn't see them anywhere, though there were hundreds of young protesters shouting their support at a fairly safe distance from the cops.
