vigilant TV

The Washingon Post reports on arrests at Friday’s World Bank and International Monetary Fund protests in Washington. More arrests were made than at the 1999 Seattle WTO riots, despite Friday’s event being mostly peaceful.

Police said they had arrested between 530 and 600 people during the protests, most during mass arrests on downtown street corners. D.C. police do not give out crowd estimates, but it appeared that most of today’s demonstrators ended up wearing plastic handcuffs – there were perhaps 200 or 300 who participated but were not arrested. Most of the arrests were on misdemeanor charges.

[...]

Today was different. From about 7:30 a.m., when the group of 100 demonstrators left Franklin Park and then massed at K Street and Vermont Avenue NW, police were out to lock people up, using overwhelming manpower.

In most cases, the reason for arrest was generally that the protesters had blocked traffic and failed to obey orders to return to the sidewalk. In most cases, protesters did not resist arrest, walking single file onto buses that took them to the D.C. police academy for processing.

– Washington Post, IMF Protests Met With Police Presence.

Four protesters were arrested on weapons charges after a search discovered they were carrying homemade explosives.

Police officers rounded up the protesters on Saturday evening as they left an alley near the IMF and World Bank headquarters and said they found at least four coffee cans rigged with explosives in their backpacks.

Police spokesman Officer Tony O’Leary said the coffee cans contained nails and blasting caps, and that police also found smoke bombs in the protesters’ bags.

[...]

O’Leary said the protesters have been charged with carrying a dangerous weapon, possession of implements of a crime and possession of Class A prohibited weapons. The protesters have refused to identify themselves to police, he said, and will be arraigned in court on Monday.

– Reuters, Police accuse four of carrying bombs near IMF.

Organizers claim non-violent protesters were arrested merely for being present.

Hundreds of people were arrested for doing nothing more than expressing their political beliefs using legal, nonviolent forms of protest and civil disobedience, Anti-Capitalist Convergence said in a statement today. “Protesters and onlookers were shoved, beaten, and pepper sprayed by the police, who seemed determined to prove their ‘control’ of the situation by hurting innocent people. We cannot let our freedom to dissent be taken away.”

[...]

About 400 protesters were at the Georgetown demonstration where they were met by about 100 District police officers in full riot gear.

Demonstrators could enter the GAP stores so long as they said they were shopping, and they did. At one point about a dozen demonstrators stripped to their underwear chanting, “We’d rather wear nothing than wear the GAP.”

– Environment News Service, 500 Arrested in World Bank Protests.