[mobglob-discuss] [Infoshop News] Anti-capitalists shut down Washington, DC; Over 600 arrested (fwd)

[Tom_Childs at Douglas.BC.CA]

  ----- Forwarded message: -----From: Chuck Munson <chuck at tao.ca>
To: "infoshop-news at infoshop.org" <infoshop-news at infoshop.org>
Subject: [Infoshop News] Anti-capitalists shut down Washington, DC; Over 600 arrested
Sender: infoshop-news-admin at infoshop.org
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 15:06:51 -0400
X-Spam-Status: No, hits=2.4 required=5.0
	tests=RCVD_IN_OSIRUSOFT_COM,AWL
	version=2.31
X-Spam-Level: **
X-Sanitizer: Advosys mail filter


Anti-capitalists shut down Washington, DC; Over 600 arrested

by Chuck0

This story will be updated throughout the day

September 27 | 3:00 pm EDT

The residents of Washington, DC were treated to a small version of the 
general strikes which shut down Argentina earlier this year. Thousands of 
anti-capitalists and concerned citizens converged on Washington, DC this 
morning in a successful effort to shut down the capital of Empire (the United 
States).

Protesters used a wide variety of tactics to shut down intersections and 
streets, ranging from a Critical Mass bike ride, to flaming tires thrown onto 
George Washington parkway, to nonviolent blockades of intersections. There 
are reports that the snake march this morning prompted several folks to 
destroy the windows of Citibank, an international capitalist bank complicit 
in profiting from IMF policies.

The streets of Washington, DC were deserted at 8 am, with the streets looking 
like they do on a Saturdya morning. Traffic on the Metro was light, despite 
urging from the authorities for people to take public transpoartation. Most 
of the downtown workers simply stayed home. I overheard one parking lot 
attendent say to a co-worker that he was glad that "everybody stayed home 
this morning."

The weather was favorable to the protesters, being cool, foggy and no rain. 
This break in the rain came in the middle of several days of rain. The fog 
prevented police helicopters from tracking activist groups.

Currently, the legal collective and the news media are reporting over 600 
arrests today. Police Chief Charles Ramsey was reported to have said that he 
hoped to arrest 1000 people by noon and was planning to detain everybody 
until Monday.

Most of the arrests that this reporter observed this morning were simply 
illegal--it was clear that at a certain point, the police simply decided to 
clear the streets.

I saw around 70 people get arrested at 12th and H Street, NW. The police 
overdid it and shut down 12th street, a major trafifc artery, for 30 minutes 
as the last wave of commuters trickled in.

About a half hour later, several of us doing media work got reports that 
people had been surrounded at 'Pershing Park", which is the west end of 
Freedom Plaze (12th and Pennsylvania). The police surrounded a large group of 
people in the park, including people who were drumming and some folks who had 
been doing Critical Mass. The police closed in and eventually arrested 
everybody. I counted 9 buses full of people, around 350 people in all.

The police did use some violence against the people in the park, especially 
against two guys who resisted arrest and were thrown into a police van (I'll 
post the AP photo of this arrest).

The folks who were arrested in the park were supported by a vocal group of 
activists across the street.

There were reports that many people in the snake march got arrested and 42 
people were arrested from the Pagan Bloc.

Jail solidarity is being organized tonight and details will be discussed at 
the ACC Convergence Center at 6 pm.

All in all, I'd say that the day was a success, thanks to creative thinking 
by those who participated and the fact that everybody was well prepared. The 
police will say that they kept the streets free, but the fact is that 
anti-capitalists successfully shut down Washington, DC today.

That's the least that we can do for the Argentinians and billions of others 
affected by the World Bank and IMF.

-- 
Chuck0

------------------------------------------------------------
Personal homepage        -> http://chuck.mahost.org/
Infoshop.org             -> http://www.infoshop.org/
MutualAid.org            -> http://www.mutualaid.org/
Alternative Press Review -> http://www.altpr.org/
Practical Anarchy Online -> http://www.practicalanarchy.org/
Anarchy: AJODA           -> http://www.anarchymag.org/

AIM: AgentHelloKitty

Web publishing and services for your nonprofit:
Bread and Roses Web Publishing
http://www.breadandrosesweb.org/

"...ironically, perhaps, the best organised dissenters in
the world today are anarchists, who are busily
undermining capitalism while the rest of the left is
still trying to form committees."
                -- Jeremy Hardy, The Guardian (UK)





Donate to Infoshop.org: http://www.infoshop.org/feed_infoshop.html
_______________________________________________
infoshop-news mailing list
infoshop-news at infoshop.org
http://www.infoshop.org/mailman/listinfo/infoshop-news


--