Protests for global justice: September 27-28, 2002--Washington, DC

Off Our Backs, Nov/Dec 2002 by Whatley, Sheri, Bader, Shawna, Henry, Alice

activism

Protests against corporate globalization took place in Washington, D.C., from Monday, September 23 through Sunday, September 29. Protests on Friday were organized by the Anti-- Capitalist Convergence who called for a "People's Strike" to shut down the city by blocking traffic and holding rallies. On Saturday, Mobilization for Global Justice conducted a march protesting the annual meetings of the World Bank(WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the worldwide spread of AIDs, and ecological imperialism such as the increasing privatization of water throughout the developing world. Sunday's protests included an anti-war march to embassies in D.C.

Friday's protests were marked by mass arrests: 649 people were arrested in what many are calling illegal arrests. Activists reported brutal treatment by police, and the Washington Post reported that a number of bystanders, photojournalists, and other observers were arrested as well.

A photographer for off our backs, who was not participating in the protests but was standing to the side shooting pictures, was hit by police in the face with a baton. The officer said she was "too close to the protestors." She received a black eye from the beating.

What follow are personal accounts and commentaries by activists about the protests and police actions.

Friday: The People's Strike

On September 27, activists organizing with the Anti-Capitalist Convergence called for a "People's Strike" in the Washington, D.C. area. (See sidebar on the issues for the reasons for the strike.) Starting at 7 a.m., activists were out in the streets. As soon as we brought out our posters and banners with "No Blood for Oil" slogans, we began getting frantic cell phone calls from activists who were being corralled, arrested, and beaten.

The intentions of the police were clear from the start of the day. They were dressed in riot gear and as we walked by, they made statements like, "We're gonna bust your head" and "Let's do it now and not wait." What we soon came to understand was that the police were using the tactic of boxing in and arresting protestors all over the city.

A total of 649 people were arrested that day mostly on the charge of "failure to obey." But in every case I hear about, police had given no order of any kind. In fact, rather than ordering protesters to disperse, when protesters asked to leave the area, they were prevented from doing so. In addition to the arrest of hundreds of protestors, reporters, legal observers, random uninvolved observers, and members of the general public on their way to work were also arrested. Colin Powell's personal photographer was arrested and denied leniency even with his mainstream press credentials.

At one point, Freedom Plaza (which was the site of two preplanned events that were cancelled as a result of the arrests) turned into a bullhorn for activists, as it was swarming with reporters and photographers from all over the world. In one ten minute span, our affinity group was approached by AI-Jazeera, CNN, and a Swedish news station. We used the opportunity to tell the world why we were out in the streets.

In the end, the local media sensationalized the protests as a battle between police and protesters rather than reporting on the gross violations by police against protesters who were behaving peacefully. One broken window garnered front page press coverage, meanwhile many cases of police beating protesters were not seen as newsworthy.

Although the day was bleak in terms of arrests and beatings, the anti-war, anti-corporate globalization message was still strong.

For that, it was worth the battle.

by Sheri Whatley

Following are several accounts of police brutality witnessed by protesters and bystanders during Friday's protests

On Friday morning, I was arrested along with more than 600 others, the vast majority of whom did not intend to be arrested and had committed absolutely no illegal act.

I got to the park (ironically named Freedom Plaza) a little after 9 a.m., and saw a group of people dancing and drumming, and went over to watch. I saw about a dozen people march into the street chanting anti-World Bank and IMF slogans, and they were immediately pushed back to the park by the cops. Around 9:15 a.m., hundreds of cops in riot gear surrounding the park. The police refused to let me out. Some cops on one part of the park said "I don't care where you have to go, you made the choice to come down here and you are not getting out." I went to try a different side of the park, and there I heard the cops saying to others like me trying to leave, "We will make an announcement soon letting those who want to leave, leave, and the rest will be arrested." (That turned out to be a lie.)

Meanwhile, they were closing in on us and it was getting pretty tight. The cops were getting all worked up, and the protestors started to chant "We want to leave peacefully, we want to leave peacefully!" Before I knew it, these huge officers from Chicago, Boston, D.C., and federal Park Police were pulling out their batons and wacking people. The protestors chanted "Shame! Shame! Shame!" in response.