[stop-imf] DC: IMF Protests Result in Arrests (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

IMF Protests Result in Arrests

By Arthur Santana and Patti Davis
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, April 10, 2000; 2:32 PM

Seven people were arrested in downtown Washington and traffic was tied up=
=20
for 45 minutes this morning in the first street action of protests this=20
week against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Police said three were arrested who were trying to lead a protest rally=20
from the top of a rental truck, two others after they chained themselves to=
=20
the vehicle and two others who officials said tried to unfurl a banner on=
=20
the World Bank building.

Hundreds of protesters have come to the city to protest policies of the=20
World Bank and of the IMF during the groups' spring meetings, which start=
=20
Tuesday. They say they hope to build on the momentum of protests against=20
the WTO that turned ugly in Seattle, resulting in disruption of the=20
meetings and teargassing of protesters.

The planned protests in Washington include lobbying on Capitol Hill and a=
=20
labor-oriented protest against trade policy toward China. Organizers say=20
they hope to block people from attending the meetings next Sunday and=20
Monday with non-violent civil disobedience.

The morning's protesters were among 40 to 60 members of two protest groups=
=20
and independent activists who gathered at the World Bank building at 1818 H=
=20
Street NW, about 8:30 a.m.

"We feel that the number one funder of global warming in the world is the=
=20
World Bank," said Chris Ball, deputy director of D.C.-based Ozone Action.

D.C. Police arrested Beka Economopolous, with EcoPledge.com, John=20
Passacantando, executive director of Ozone Action, and Brent Blackwelder,=
=20
president of Friends of the Earth. All three got on top of a rented truck=
=20
and began to lead a protest rally with a megaphone, Ball said.

The three on top of the truck, which was parked in front of the building=20
and which was blocking two lanes of traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue, were=20
ordered down by police and arrested after they didn't obey, police said.

Two others =AD described as independent activists =AD were arrested after t=
hey=20
chained themselves to the axle of the truck, said U.S. Secret Service=20
spokesman Jim Mackin. The chain had to be broken before police could remove=
=20
them from the street, where they were sitting, Mackin said.

Two additional activists were arrested by Secret Service agents for=20
attempting to climb support cables from a 10-foot-high awning they had=20
climbed in order to unfurl a protest banner at the front of the building,=
=20
Bell and Mackin said.

One woman on the awning accidentally cut her arm and was taken to D.C.=20
General Hospital for treatment, Mackin said. The two were charged with=20
unlawful entry, said D.C. Police spokesman Sgt. Joe Gentile.

The six others were taken to the 2nd Police District for processing. The=20
five protesters on the truck will be charged with failure to obey police,=
=20
and additional charged may be pending, Mackin said. Some of the protesters=
=20
were paying a $100 fine and being released this morning, Gentile said.

"The arrests were expected," Ball said. "The protesters felt it was worth=
=20
getting arrested to get their message out." The area was cleared about 9:35=
=20
a.m. In an apparently unrelated demonstration, about 1,000 people staged a=
=20
peaceful protest this morning outside the headquarters of the American=20
Staffing Association in Old Town Alexandria. Members of a group called the=
=20
National Peoples Action said they were protesting low wages and=20
"ball-and-chain benefits" of workers employed by ASA members.

"They're making big bucks off these people," said Charlene Dalton, a member=
=20
of the Communities United for Action, which also participated in the=20
protest. She said the protesters had come from 38 states.

Richard Wahlquist, executive vice president of ASA, denied the allegations,=
=20
saying that "the data does not support the claim that the industry is not=
=20
paying good wages." He said the ASA is an association whose members operate=
=20
14,000 offices that provide staffing services. He said ASA members work=20
hard to transition workers into better-paying jobs.

The protesters held signs and flyers calling the ASA the "American=20
Sweatshop Association." Wahlquist said that about 300 protesters had=20
demonstrated outside his Fairfax home on Sunday. After today's protest,=20
Wahlquist met with leaders of the demonstration and agreed to discuss=20
sending ASA representatives to a meeting the protest group is holding in=20
Chicago next month.

Both Wahlquist and several of the protesters said the rally in the 200=20
block of South Washington Street was not related to planned demonstrations=
=20
this week by opponents of global capitalism. "I think it's entirely=20
coincidental," Wahlquist said.

Police said the 1,000 or so demonstrators came in 22 buses. There were no=
=20
arrests, they said.

At lunchtime, several hundred people gathered at L'Enfant Plaza in the=20
District; but that protest also was apparently unrelated to the IMF=20
meetings. Those demonstrators were congregating about subsidized housing.