DC protesters released

Washington, DC, Apr. 21-- One hundred fifty-six people arrested during the April 16-17 demonstrations at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been released from jail. By practicing "jail solidarity", they were successful in obtaining release with only a nominal fine to pay and no criminal record added to their names. Amid scenes of jubilation and relief, prisoners were reunited with their fellow protesters outside the DC Courthouse at 500 Indiana Avenue jail where those protesters had maintained a 24 hour vigil in support of those inside. The capitulation of the authorities was the result of a pre-planned process of "jail solidarity", whereby prisoners withheld their names through exercising their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, and overburdened the system with their united noncooperation. For those prisoners, cooperating in any manner, shape or form with what they considered to be a "corrupt and oppressive police state" would run counter to their conscience. ("War tax" resisters act according to a similar principle.)

"This is total capitulation," says Katya Komisaruk, attorney with the Midnight Special Legal Collective. "As with the mass arrests made in Seattle, here in DC we’ve demonstrated the genuine power wielded by people united. Solidarity is virtually unstoppable. On to Philly and LA for the Republican and Democratic National Conventions."

District of Columbia Chief Judge Eugene Hamilton had instructed the team of prosecutors to resolve the stress on the DC jails by today. The defense team, comprising the Midnight Special Legal Collective (formed from the Direct Action Network legal team that successfully won the dismissal of nearly all 600 Seattle WTO charges), the National Lawyers Guild, the National Conference of Black Lawyers, and the Court Appointed Panel negotiated with the District of Columbia Corporation Counsel and the US Attorney’s Office, seeking the demands arrived at through a unique "consensus" process (decision by unanimity) by the prisoners.

The plea bargain agreement included a reduction in charges to jaywalking, with an accompanying $5 fine, the total sum of which was raised by concerned local citizens within minutes. The authorities have insisted that all released give a name, but no identification will be checked for verification. In addition, the terms apply retroactively to all arrested protesters who have not yet paid a fine but who provided identification in order to return to their family, work, or to flee the extensively reported and soon-to-be thoroughly investigated physical and psychological brutality of the US Marshals within the DC Courthouse. Also covered are any prisoners "lost" within the District of Columbia jail system, a legitimate concern say many familiar with the DC bureaucracy.

Erin Fischer, a graduate student at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, said shortly after her release, "Those of us who just spent four days in jail have a much deeper understanding of the oppression caused by IMF/World Bank policies. Attempts by the prison system, and the US Marshals in particular, to abuse and dehumanize us only show how seriously they take us. We’ve come out of this stronger, and with complete confidence in our power as agents of non-violent change."

The original threats hurled at the detainees that they would be sent to the general prison population and be assuredly beaten and/or raped proved hollow. The male IMF/WB inmates established a rapport with their fellow inmates, took testimonials from them regarding institutional abuse, and pledged to work from the outside for the correction and prosecution of heinous human rights violations. "Their every attempt to intimidate or to divide and conquer only helps us. You would think they would learn," said a released demonstrator who identified himself as Daniel Freiheit.

The IMF/WB activists will spend the evening celebrating their total victory —debriefing legal and medical teams, reuniting with friends and family, some having their first meal since Monday.

Clubs and pepper spray for IMF protesters:
"Down here there is no democracy"

Washington, DC, Apr. 19-- Although protesters were involved in acts of peaceful civil disobedience, police, US Marshals on horseback and national guardsmen attacked them with batons, clubs, tear gas and pepper spray. Over 1,300 were thrown in jail and scores were injured, including at least one demonstrator who was hit by a police vehicle.

The nation's capital had the eerie feeling of a city under military siege. The streets were virtually deserted as police banned traffic from 90 downtown blocks surrounding the World Bank and IMF headquarters and told non-emergency personnel not to report to work. In the areas were the protests occurred, police helicopters circled overhead, while armored cars and mounted police and US Marshals patrolled the streets. Hundreds of police officers in full body armor and shields, and armed with long batons, manned steel barricades. National Guard troops were deployed in the streets at the request of Mayor Anthony Williams.

On Saturday night the police carried out a preemptive strike by arresting 637 protesters. Demonstrators and tourists said that police did not give any instructions to disperse and prevented those who wanted to leave from doing so. A double line of riot-helmeted police, pumping batons across their chests and stamping their feet rhythmically, blocked off both ends of the street and moved in on the crowd. The protesters were dragged into buses, handcuffed behind their backs, and hauled off to jail. Many were held 20 hours or more. They were denied access to a phone, had little or no food and were shuttled from one jail to another during the night. They were not released until they paid a $50 fine for "parading without a permit."

Among those injured or arrested were reporters and photographers from Associated Press and the Washington Post. A consultant to the World Bank who was arguing with demonstrators was also arrested when the police moved in. When the consultant, a Bolivian citizen, protested to the US Marshal that his rights were being violated, he was violently slammed into a wall. The US Marshal screamed in his ear: "Down here there is no democracy. This place is a dictatorship and I am God. If you open your mouth again I will kick your ass 'til you are sorry."

After the arrests on Saturday, DC Mayor Anthony A. Williams acknowledged that police had tested the "boundary line" of constitutional rights in dealing with the protesters but said the city was determined to "prevent a replication of what happened out in Seattle."

Source: World Socialist Website