Protesters' Momentum Weakens as Crowd Thins
Police Making Preemptive Arrests, Some Say

By Monte Reel and Manny Fernandez
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 29, 2002; Page C01

Protesters who threatened to blockade the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank largely abandoned those plans yesterday, the second time in two days that a heavy security presence overwhelmed their ranks and easily controlled downtown Washington.

Police had prepared for as many as 20,000 activists, and some organizers expected the biggest demonstration against the two financial institutions in Washington since the raucous protests of April 2000.

But by last night, police estimated the turnout at 3,000 to 5,000, and plans to blockade the meetings and keep delegates from leaving fizzled when only scattered groups of protesters showed up.

Organizers with the Mobilization for Global Justice said last night that police had established too large a perimeter for them to be able to block delegates, but they claimed victory nonetheless. "The point was putting out our truth," protester Charity Ryerson said. "And we did that."

As demonstrators capped a largely peaceful day of marching by streaming into a small park outside the IMF and World Bank offices at 5:45 p.m., the large, homemade Trojan horse they were carrying snagged on a tree branch, and its cardboard head broke off. "Kind of symbolic of the protests," Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said later.

But protesters talked of being inspired by the thousands-strong call for an end to corporate greed and said numbers did not matter. Others in the crowd suggested that the anti-globilization movement has suffered from a shift in activist priorities since Sept. 11, 2001, and that it embraces issues that do not provide easy rallying points.

"It's a bit disappointing," said Cathal Healy-Singh, who came from Barbados for the march. "It would be greater if the issues were more visible."

The April 2000 protests came several months after activists in Seattle had shut down meetings of the World Trade Organization amid clouds of tear gas and street battles with police. Last year's annual meetings were called off because of the terrorist attacks, and the anti-globalization protests scheduled to coincide with them were replaced by smaller antiwar marches. Some activists said the time gap between protests cost momentum.

But organizers for MGJ, the D.C.-based group that helped coordinate the latest protests, applauded this weekend's turnout and estimated that it far exceeded police counts, despite visual evidence that the crowd was far smaller than that of 2000. But even if the numbers didn't match that turnout, organizers offered that yesterday's action showed that their movement was regaining steam.

"We needed to get back in the streets in force after 9/11," said Nadine Bloch. "We have shown that the global justice movement is alive and well and ready to kick some corporate booty."

Ramsey didn't necessarily see the turnout as the end of the movement. He said that the preparations of police were based on monitoring previous protests elsewhere.

"If they've still got some momentum, we may have to do this again," he said. "If it starts to peter out, we may not have to."

The protest, which ended about 6:40 p.m. after a last burst of chanting at Edward R. Murrow Park, across the street from World Bank headquarters, had started as a rally on the grounds of the Washington Monument. Activists gathered at the Sylvan Theatre about noon and listened to speakers and musical groups. About 3 p.m., they headed north on 15th Street NW, turned west on I Street and stopped at Farragut Square, where they rallied for an hour or so.

On the way, they encountered a group of counter-protesters who chanted, "Go to Cuba!" As they crossed paths, everybody seemed to be videotaping everybody else. The police were filming the marchers. The marchers were filming the police. Counter-demonstrators were filming the marchers, and the marchers were filming the counter-demonstrators.

"I think they have it wrong," said John Mitchell, 24, of the District referring to the counter-demonstrators. "I don't think criticizing the government means we're unpatriotic. I mean, I think it incredibly patriotic to challenge your country when it's wrong."

It took about 15 minutes for the parade of activists to march by.

"That was it?" said Joseph Trimpert, 28, a computer technician and former Marine from Arlington. He held U.S. and Israeli flags as he watched, saying he wanted to show support for the U.S. war on terrorism.

When protesters reached Farragut Square, they were surrounded by police. Activists set fire to a dummy designed to look like a man in business attire and two U.S. flags, one designed with corporate symbols replacing the stars, were also set aflame, but other people rescued them from ruin.

Not all of the protesters were pleased with the way the protest in the park was unfolding.

"I don't dispute their right to burn the flag," said Joseph Thornhill, 21, a student at Mary Washington College. "As soon as the media saw the flag burning, everything else that happens here becomes nothing. The message becomes we're angry young people."

Shortly after 5 p.m., an organizer in the park announced that protesters were negotiating with police to head to Murrow Park. The activists had planned to surround the IMF and World Bank offices, preventing delegates from leaving their meetings. But police had established a perimeter around the building and had lined the park, at 18th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, with Jersey barriers.

On Friday, police established a hard-line policy during scattered demonstrations that resulted in 649 arrests. Yesterday, some protesters said the heavy police presence may have intimidated some activists.

"It seems like it's risky to have a diverse opinion," said Jim Dobbs, 18, who attends DePaul University in Chicago. "We're all trying to feel secure."

The issues on the list of activists' grievances is varied: military action against Iraq, big oil companies, Third World debt, environmental abuses, racism and the AIDS crisis. The IMF and World Bank exploit poor nations in deference to large corporations, they said.

When protesters first met at the monument grounds, the atmosphere was festive under bright skies. Activists staged puppet theater productions criticizing corporate excess and inflated a giant pig balloon with "Hog-tied Corporate Glutton" emblazoned on its plastic hide.

Much of the conversation centered on Friday's protests and the arrests of 649 people. Many of the protesters said they believed the arrests were preemptive and based on what police feared they might do, not what they actually did. There were scattered outbreaks of minor property damage, including the breaking of two windows at a Citibank branch at K Street and Vermont Avenue NW.

In D.C. Superior Court yesterday, 184 protesters arrested Friday were arraigned, according to Betty Ballester, president of the Superior Court Trial Lawyers Association, which coordinated the protesters' defense. Chief Judge Rufus I. King III dropped charges against 100 because there was no paperwork, Ballester said. All but four women were released by 9:30 p.m. The women were detained because they refused to give their names, Ballester said, and are to face trial within seven days.

"It's just so outrageous. Two windows get broken, and everyone in the city loses their rights," said lawyer Mark L. Goldstone, who was at the courthouse representing some of the demonstrators. "It's very clear these were a lot of preemptive arrests, and [Ramsey is] taking a page right out of [the movie] 'Minority Report.' "

Anthony and Virginia Czarnecki of Spotsylvania, Va., said they were upset that their 20-year-old daughter was arrested Friday for sitting in a crowd and dancing. "I think what it is going to do for most of these kids is strengthen their resolve," Virginia Czarnecki said.

Six arrests were reported yesterday. Four people were charged with possessing an explosive device after police saw them trying to assemble something in an alley at 20th and K streets NW, authorities said. Another protester was accused of putting sticky tape on the statue of Adm. David Farragut in Farragut Square, and one man was arrested after a confrontation with officers, police said.

Some sightseers hovered at the day's rallies.

Tony Shaffer, 42, sat on a bench in the middle of the park. "These so-called anarchists are also known as cowards," he said. "Broken windows -- those are people's businesses."

Lydia Stein, 24, of Vermont, countered that those concerned about property damage are blind to the injustices caused by corporate-based international policies.

"The damage goes much deeper than that window," she said. "Thousands are suffering because of what that window represents."

More protests are scheduled for today, including a march against war in Iraq. It will begin at Dupont Circle and stop at several embassies, including those of Britain, Japan and Turkey. It will end with a rally outside Vice President Cheney's residence at the Naval Observatory.

Staff writers Michael Barbaro, David A. Fahrenthold, Jonathan Finer, Annie Gowen, Neil Irwin, Fredrick Kunkle, Allan Lengel, David Nakamura, Mary Otto and Abhi Raghunathan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.