|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Calm prevails in second day of protests
From Bob Franken (CNN Washington Bureau)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Protests in the nation's capital Saturday surrounding the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank were calmer than the day before, officials said, but five people were arrested -- four of them for possession of a possible explosive device. A statement from the Metropolitan Police Department said two male and two female demonstrators were taken into custody when they were found to have coffee cans filled with either explosive devices -- like blasting caps -- or "spike balls," consisting of nails glued together. The four also had smoke bombs with them, the statement said. The suspects refused to identify themselves, police said. They are schedule to be arraigned Monday on charges of carrying a dangerous weapon, possession of a prohibited weapon and possession of implements of a crime, the police statement said. By nightfall, 100 demonstrators remained on the streets behind police barricades, about two blocks from the World Bank building. More than 200 police officers were on-hand for an expected 2,000 protesters. About 300 demonstrated earlier in the day. Also, about 40 protesters lay down in the street at the intersection of 20th Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue. Police told them that they would not be arrested because officers were confident demonstrators would have to leave eventually to use the restroom, officials said. Protesters were guided into Edward R. Murrow Park, several hundred feet from the IMF and World Bank buildings. Police had instructions to arrest them if they tried to get too close to the buildings. The people who planned to protest Saturday "went through the process of getting permits, and they're not talking about radical actions like we saw yesterday," District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey said. "We're going to work with them like we do all the time with all these protests. Our goal today is no arrests." The protesters object to what they say are unfair IMF policies that benefit wealthier nations at the expense of developing nations. The IMF disagrees, saying the poor of the world are benefited by its policies. Demonstrators had said they wanted to "quarantine" the meetings Saturday, trapping the delegates inside IMF headquarters. After setting up a large perimeter around the meeting location to allow delegates to more easily enter and depart the area, police said they were ready to cooperate with protesters. Saturday's calm contrasted sharply with Friday's sometimes violent protests. Police admitted they did not expect the kind of aggressive demonstrations that took place. Crowds and arrests on FridayOn Friday, police arrested 649 people while avoiding the mass violence that has marred other such demonstrations in recent years. Law enforcement sources estimated there were 2,000 protesters Friday at different locations. Some protesters threw rocks and smoke bombs in clashes with police on the rainy streets of the nation's capital, and others tried to block intersections and sidewalks. Those who caused a disturbance were taken away, while those who protested peacefully stayed, police said. D.C. police arrested 21 people when they tried to block the intersection near the IMF meeting site. Another 40 people were arrested nearby in a skirmish with police that included rock-throwing and smoke bombs.
In the first incident, 25 people sat down in the middle of the intersection, four of them chained together. Police gave the protesters two minutes to move, and only four complied. Police sawed the chains of the four who were chained together. All 21 will be charged with failing to obey police order, said D.C. Metropolitan Police Capt. Ralph McLein. In the second incident, police clashed with about 150 protesters at a Citibank branch at the intersection of Vermont and K Streets. Ramsey dismissed complaints by attorneys of some of those arrested who said police actions Friday were unprovoked. "That's a lawyer's job to say things like that," the chief said. "The bottom line is these groups have been talking for the last five months about shutting down Washington, D.C., getting points for breaking windows and trashing stores. We're not going to let that happen in our city." In Georgetown, several dozen protesters chanted and partially disrobed outside two Gap stores, protesting the company's labor and environmental record. (Full story) About 1,500 D.C. police officers were being assisted by 1,700 officers from other jurisdictions around the country, D.C. police said.
Finance ministers of the Group of 24, or "G-24" -- 24 countries whose collective task is to coordinate the positions of developing nations on monetary and finance issues and to ensure that those positions are adequately represented to the IMF and World Bank -- were meeting at IMF headquarters on Friday. The actual annual meetings of the IMF/World Bank occur Sunday. On Saturday, the International Monetary and Financial Committee and the Development Committee were scheduled to meet.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
