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I think the latest reports were that 640-some people had been arrested on Friday morning. I was lucky, as were ALL the others who did not get arrested at that time - it was pure luck in the face of arbitrary/illegal "preemptive" arrests...which had been announced BEFORE HAND by DC cops.
In addition to the (150 or so?) arrests from the snake march, a great bulk of the rest came from people peacefully marching near/to Freedom (...) Plaza. This was supposed to be the site of the "die-in"" and other actions that were planned as "low-risk" and non-confrontational - so people who had NO INTENTION of risking arrest were going to the ironically-named Plaza. It was also a permitted action/area. A large portion of the demonstrators (taking part mostly in the day’s various anti-war activities) had been hemmed-in by cops into one part of the Plaza, while the other portion slipped out into a bigger, open area of the plaza (the latter is where I was and we didn't get arrested). It seemed that the police strategy was to aggressively funnel as many folks as possible into the side of the park where they wanted us – and to then surround and arrest them all. Anyway, the unlucky ones did get surrounded and arrested one-by-one, seemingly (and very eerily) much like the mass arrest in DC of 600+ (people who also had been marching peacefully) in April 2000, for anti-IMF and -World Bank activity.
Fri 9/27: antiwar day
I was with some New York/CUNY friends that morning, in Dupont Circle. This was also where the Pagan Cluster had gathered for their pre-march rituals. The rest of us (about 25 people total, some from Left Turn magazine) were holding up a banner for the traffic which read
New Yorkers Say: NO BLOOD FOR OIL! NO WAR ON IRAQ!
and handing out fliers, which listed some major lies about the upcoming war on Iraq, to Metro commuters. Most people were receptive.
The Pagan cluster set out on their own march (it was about 25-30 people total) and it was immediately, totally arrested. The story I heard is that they took the street at first; were told to get on the sidewalk – and did – but then were arrested anyway. Yeah, the Pagan bloc is a real threat towards violence! [I’m being sarcastic. This is the most peaceful group of folks you’d ever meet.]
While still at Dupont we saw the Critical Mass bike rally pass by us – there were as many or more bike cops interspersed within their cadre. We later found out that after the media got pictures of the Critical Mass, they, too, were all arrested by DC’s finest.
By this point we had been hearing that the ACC(Anti-Capitalist Convergence)-sponsored snake march was being contained and threatened with arrest. So the 25+ of us started to march towards where they were allegedly being held. As we passed by a Citibank branch that had been along the snake march, we saw the windows being boarded up. Some black bloc folks had smashed it up a bit. Later we’d find out that the cops had moved in and pinned many of them right up against where the broken glass was – some glass still suspended in the window fell and cut at least one women, right down her face. She was reportedly arrested and denied medical treatment, despite the bloody gash.
Ultimately we were directed (forcefully) away from our route by riot cops, and directed towards Freedom Plaza. This area was where things were getting hectic and chaotic, tensions were running high – and we were lucky enough to end up in the part that was large and open and therefore fairly difficult for cops to surround to make mass arrests. Most of the afternoon was spent in standoff with the cops and in trying to support the folks just across the street from us who were being arrested. The arrests were made quite violently, as one woman we spoke to from this unfortunate group had her head slammed to the ground, and she was clubbed.
After attending an ACC report-back session that evening, it became clear to us all that
1. Indymedia reporters
had been heavily targeted in the arrests. DC Indymedia had only about 3 of their main staff left after all these arrests. While pre-emptive arrests may not be too new a thing for the DC police, announcing it beforehand, and targeting ‘neutral’ observers/helpers, seems fairly unprecedented.
Friday was also a day of major actions, fairly autonomous and spread across the city, meant to ‘shut down’, or slow down, the capital/flows of central DC, in conjunction with the called-for People’s Strike. This effort (the slow-down) seemed somewhat successful in that, for example,
1. at least one ‘non-human’ roadblock was successfully put in place (=burning tires)
Sat 9/28: anti-IMF and -World Bank day
The morning began with jail-support rallies outside the courthouse. Some NY friends had made a great banner which read:
NO PREEMPTIVE ARRESTS! NO PREEEMPTIVRE WAR!
Throughout the day, we’d hand out fliers to people on the streets, which explained the DC cops’ actions against us the previous day, and how unfair and really illegal it all was.
Saturday was the day for the main/permitted march and rally against the World Bank and IMF, and the planned ‘quarantine’ action (a largely symbolic surrounding and ‘disinfecting’ of the WB building where the meetings were being held). Apparently all or most of the marchers assembled at the Washington Monument and a nearby stage. The Anti-Capitalist Convergence had called for an anti-capitalist noise bloc (=lots of percussion and other sound making devices) – so this is where I was with my NY/CUNY friends.
From my perspective, the march was quite spirited and exciting. We were pretty noisy! But cops effectively quelled our collective force by
1. sapping our momentum by temporarily stopping and surrounding the permitted march in a park (for about an hour or so) -- before we reached our legal endpoint. It seems here that the riot cops would let folks out very slowly, one by one, but it was not well known to everyone inside and many people begun to panic in fear of possible mass arrests.
Pre-emptive barricades had been set up and we were able to get in sight of, but not very close to, the WB building where the meetings were happening. The quarantine action never really was able to materialize. One young man among the protesters was violently nabbed out suddenly by under-covers – he was allegedly putting lemon juice on a bandana (preparation for possible tear gassing) – but the cops thought it was rather preparation for a Molotov. A few small victories were won, as when a black bloc was able to prevent cops from seizing their banner after they (cops) charged into the crowd; and a few times when advancing lines of cops were turned back by the protesters. But again, most of the afternoon (at least for our group) was spent in standoffs with cops, which went nowhere.
At some point either before or during the march, there were American flags burned as well as effigies (of businessmen or something; probably Bush). A fight almost broke out when a Guardian Angel tried to prevent the flag burnings. The media folks of course loved this part.
Mainstream media reported that there were only about 3000-5000 marchers, which may be somewhat accurate, but probably somewhat underestimated.
Overall I’d characterize the events as very similar in important ways to the anti-World Economic Forum protests that happened not long ago here in NYC (though the latter was far better attended in sheer numbers). The similarity is that the cops were very prepared and kept us under tight control – totally preempting most plans for civil disobedience and direct action from even getting started, by targeting people who were merely marching peacefully and taking part in permitted activities. Friday was a day of careless and illegal preemptive arrests (many people were released with no charges) – while Saturday was a day of aggressive containment with the constant threat of more preemptive arrests.
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