Recap of A16 and a look ahead at A17.[April 17]

 What's up next 
by www.PristineEarth.com 7:20am Mon Apr 17 '00  
address: Honolulu, Hawaii phone: (808) 261-6627 michael@PristineEarth.com  

Recap of A16 and a look ahead at A17. www.pristineearth.com provides hourly
audio updates from the street throughout the day. 
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Post-Demostration 
Washington D.C. 
April 16, 2000 

Washington D.C. braces for tomorrow, when protesters plan to keep 
demonstrating…this time without a permit. The police are apparently 
planning to close down up to one hundred blocks in central D.C. as 
protesters threaten to accomplish what they failed to do today- that is to 
stop meetings at the IMF and the World Bank. Local workers and 
business-people have been advised to stay home… at least for Monday 
morning. 
Today, Washington D.C. was sprinkled with the occasional skirmish, but 
the IMF and World Bank meetings proceeded nonetheless. The police blocked 
off approximately 20 blocks- so much turf that the protesters never really 
concentrated themselves in any one place. The city was indeed 
inconvenienced, but the police plan to make the crowds trek around a 20 
block radius tired them out, spread them out, and confused them. Many 
protesters, journalists, and spectators walked around asking "where's the 
action?" 
On the other hand, there were occasional and intense confrontations 
involving tear gas, pepper spray, and police officers charging some of the 
more provocative portions of the crowd. These instances however, were all 
isolated and did not catch fire among an adamantly peaceful crowd. 
Most protesters were pleased with the demonstration but some have 
decided that the demonstration did not achieve their goal because they 
failed to block IMF and World Bank delegates from meeting. Their plan is to 
succeed tomorrow morning instead. Central D.C. is still filled with more 
intense activists, protesters, and anarchists. Many have no place to sleep 
and will be up early and ready to demonstrate their disapproval once again. 
Basically, tomorrow will either be chaotic or desolate, depending on how 
much energy the demonstrators have left and on how many people try to go to 
work tomorrow. 


By Jana Gatien

www.PristineEarth.com

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 Cops Use Ammonia Gas Bombs 
by x 2:18am Mon Apr 17 '00  
 

Cops Deploy Ammonia Gas Bombs On Protesters 
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WASHINGTON - A plume of bright green gas flared up around a bus 
blocked by anti-globalization protesters three blocks from a meeting of 
the International Monetary Fund. 

"Gas! It's gas!" shouted a young man wearing a red bandana over his 
nose and face. 

Police, trying to extract the vehicle from hundreds of swarming 
protesters, sprayed a small dose of ammonia gas to clear the street 
Sunday. Several dozen protesters began surging away from the scene, 
then threatened to stampede a crowd near George Washington 
University until a more experienced protester reminded them to "walk, 
walk, take it easy, guys." 

Several car windows were broken and some police cars were hit with 
balloons filled with red paint. But the confrontations were mostly 
peaceful as more than 10,000 teenagers and young adults faced 
thousands of riot-equipped police. 

"You better watch it cops!" the man in the bandana shouted in 
frustration as he watched a police line retreat with the bus. "There are a 
whole lot more of us than there are of you!" 

Despite the protests, the first session of the International Monetary 
and Financial Committee met mostly as scheduled. 

"The meetings started as expected," said spokeswoman Kathleen 
White. "I'm told that one or two (delegates) did not get in. But the 
people were quite determined to meet and get things accomplished 
today." 

Police used decoy buses and a series of carefully defended barricades 
covering a wide area of downtown Washington to thwart attempts at 
shutting down the meetings. Authorities learned from December's 
global economic discussions in Seattle when protesters were able to 
disrupt World Trade Organization meetings with a show of strength, 
and violence, that surprised local police. 

District of Columbia Police Chief Charles Ramsey Saturday ordered 
barricades installed around the IMF building, the White House and 
several other key facilities, creating a much larger security zone than 
was employed in Seattle. 

"Today we are sending a loud and clear message to these 
unaccountable institutions that we hold them responsible for 
devastating the lives of poor people around the world in the name of 
globalization," said Chloe Frommer of the Mobilization for Global Justice. 

"We stand in solidarity with millions of people in the developing world 
who are demanding to take control of their lives out of the hands of 
the World Bank and IMF, and the powerful corporations that are calling 
the shots," Frommer said. 

As in Seattle, the protesters were an amalgam of ideologies and 
causes. Some held signs demanding an increase in the U.S. minimum 
wage and elimination of nuclear weapons while others chanted: "More 
struggle, more fights! Human freedom and animal rights!" and "Free 
Tibet before free trade!" 

Police appeared in control, standing impassively behind barricades along 
the security perimeters. Scuffles usually erupted when police tried to 
escort buses into or out of the security zones. 

Authorities used the tear gas at least twice Sunday to disburse large 
crowds as the day wore on. 

Demonstrators attacked several expensive automobiles parked near 
barricades when confrontations with police became intense. Five young 
protesters stood in front of a smashed late model Ford Crown Victoria 
on 19th Street to prevent television cameramen from photographing 
the damage. "There are better things to take pictures of," a leader 
assured the cameramen. 

A larger crowd picked up a Nissan Pathfinder and carried the vehicle into 
the middle of New York Avenue in an attempt to block police traffic. 
Protestor Brenda Dolling of Ottawa, Canada, marveled Sunday at the 
organizational skills of the demonstrators. 

"Every time police have tried to break through, all of a sudden, 
thousands of people rush up," Dolling said. "They help out 
spontaneously, which is exactly how it's supposed to be. The young 
people are my heroes." 

But police many times were able to outmaneuver the demonstrators, 
using a decoy bus to draw a crowd away from a human chain of 
activists so that another bus with IMF personnel could pass through a 
less defended point. 

Doug Baum, 32, a regional manager with a Denver area retail clothing 
chain who also was in Seattle, said, "I think the police here learned a lot 
from Seattle about image. That city really got a black eye." Baum and 
other protesters said the D.C. police have been unnecessarily 
controlling and forceful. 

"The police here have been more prepared, but they didn't have to be 
as aggressive as they have been, there was no need for that," said Ben 
Harnke, 28, also of Denver. 

As for the protest, "I think it has been a tremendous success," Harnke 
said. "We have brought attention to the World Bank and the IMF. We 
were partially successful in disrupting the meetings." 

Police arrested "about 20" protesters Sunday on charges of failure to 
obey a lawful order and parading without a permit. "That will bring the 
total arrests to between 650 and 700," said Metro Police spokeswoman 
Rai Howell. 

Chief Ramsey said he does not expect a reduction in protest when the 
international discussions move Monday to the offices of the World 
Bank. "We expect if the protest is still on, we will have some problems," 
he said. 


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