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Change Your Life! |
Washington police avoided 'another Seattle' - but at what price? |
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News
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April 19, 2000
WASHINGTON, APR 18 (AP) - For three days, thousands of protesters paralyzed the heart of the U.S. capital and sorely tested the resolve of police, but failed to shut down meetings of the two international institutions they accused of giving short-shrift to the poor.
With residents and commuters reclaiming the streets Tuesday, the time for taking stock is setting in: What is the cost to the city's image of the alternately patient-then-stern posture adopted by police? What legal costs will result from widespread arrests on minor charges such as parading without a permit?
City officials have signaled they'll ask the U.S. Congress to help pay more than dlrs 5 million in police overtime costs - and no one has yet furnished an estimate of what the disruptions cost businesses or the federal government.
Despite the expense, police took comfort in their assessment that Washington will not be remembered as "another Seattle," and the meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund went on as scheduled.
The protests at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in December were generally perceived to be violent and uncontrolled, with protesters blocking meetings, police making widespread use of tear gas and anarchists vandalizing the downtown area.
"We didn't lose the city," District of Columbia Police Chief Charles Ramsey said. "So as far as I'm concerned, it was worth it. I make no apologies for anything anybody did."
The protesters also claimed victory. "We view this as a total success," said Robert Weissman, co-director of Essential Action, one of hundreds of groups in the protest coalition that focused on issues ranging from AIDS to the treatment of the poor. "We have shined the light on these institutions as never before in this country."
While protesters seemed to appreciate the final conciliatory gesture of hundreds of negotiated - and peaceful - arrests on Monday afternoon, they voiced displeasure with earlier police tactics. About 1,300 arrests were made over the three days, including 600 on Monday. There were no reports of serious injuries, and there was comparatively little property damage.
"I think we all appreciate the police working with us to de-escalate the situation," said Patrick Reinsbaraugh, a protest organizer, "but we wish it had happened earlier in order to prevent some of the violence."
Many of the arrested protesters, including Minnie Bruce Pratt, a 53-year-old teacher and writer from Jersey City, New Jersey, complained that police "violated our constitutional liberties at every step."
While some protest organizers said their effort was successful at communicating the injustices they say are committed by the global financial groups, at least one organizer wasn't so sure.
"We've seen a lot of what's been happening in the streets, but I think a lot of you are still unclear about why," Celia Alario said at a briefing after the protest.
The government closed agencies in an 11-by-8-block swath east and west of the White House and encouraged nonessential employees to stay home. Police also closed dozens of blocks to all but emergency traffic.
"It absolutely destroyed our business. We lost about dlrs 10,000," said Delmo Barbieri, manager of Sholl's Colonial Cafeteria, a normally busy tourist Mecca that stayed open throughout the weekend. "They shouldn't be able to block the streets."
Missing all the action were President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, who were out of town, and members of Congress, who were on their spring break.
Monday began as overcast and damp, with police dispersing small crowds on the streets with pepper spray and clubs. But later in the day the events took on a conciliatory tone.
Hundreds of protesters crowded up to a barricade separating them from rows of police in riot gear and gas masks in the cold afternoon rain. Tensions seemed to be growing steadily.
Demonstrator Mary Bull of "We the People" negotiated with Executive Assistant Chief Terry Gainer for people to cross the barricade and be arrested without a violent confrontation. A dozen protesters at a time then walked through the police barricades to be arrested peacefully by police, allowing civil disobedience while disarming a potentially dangerous standoff.
With Bull's help, Gainer managed the hundreds of arrests in a businesslike manner, waving protesters through the barricades, urging calm from police and protesters alike and even intervening between a straggling protester who raced to catch up with a row crossing the barricade and nervous officers who had rushed toward her.
At one point, Gainer took a camera from a member of the crowd to snap a picture of a row of approaching protesters.
The assistant police chief grinned as he handed the camera back, and for one brief moment the weekend's animosity dissolved as the protesters let out a cheer.
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