From: "Tom Trouble" <twbounds-AT-pop.mail.rcn.net>
Subject: Fw: Report From Locked Down D.C. Streets
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2000 07:41:50 -0400


>Report From Locked Down D.C. Streets
>by Greg Ruggiero April 15, 2000
>
>Aggressive police action and arrests have begun on masse in the
>streets of Washington D.C.
>
>This morning the police raided the main "convergence center,"
>a sprawling meeting place where activists held non-violence trainings,
>built puppets and props, gave away free food, information and
>condoms, and held strategy sessions for the coming demonstrations.
>Using "fire code" as their excuse, the police raided the center
>and prevented organizers from retrieving their puppets, costumes
>and props.  Local churches immediately became alternative spaces,
>and civil disobedience trainings and media trainings continued
>without interruption for the rest of the day.
>
>At 3:30pm I joined with activists outside the Department of Justice
>for an IAC organized demonstration against the U.S. prison system.
> After a half hour of speeches  hundreds of demonstrators left
>the site and marched in the general direction of the IMF and
>World Bank buildings. As the march proceeded, our numbers grew
>from hundreds to thousands.  Midway through the march I called
>Mike Eisenmenger at the IMC to report that the cops were maintaining
> tight control, using squadrons of motorcycle cops to hedge protestors
>off the street and keep them on the sidewalk. Police-blockaded
>streets manipulated the flow and direction of the march.  Nevertheless,
> our energy was high,  our numbers kept building, and our voices
>and drums overpowered the roar of the helicopters that hovered
>above us.
>
> As we approached the intersection of "I" and 20 Street NW the
>crowd overwhelmed the police, and we took the streets. As we
>spilled off the sidewalk the crowd rang out "Whose streets? Our
>Streets! Whose streets? Our streets!"  Joy and energy shot through
>the crowd.
>
> Only a few minutes later  the march paused at 2oths Street and
>K.
>
>The police were waiting for us and had blocked the intersection
>with a regular division of city cops. The march paused, but the
>chanting and bull horn speeches continued. About  twenty minutes
> later there was a buzz in the crowd: our street full of protestors
>was cut off from the rest of the march and surrounded by cops.
>On both ends of the street a full line of police had sealed off
>access and was detaining all of us—500 to 600 protestors between
>there lines. I reached Eisenmenger on his cell as an armored
>personal carrier arrived behind police lines on 20th and K.
> When a fleet of long yellow school buses  rolled in behind the
>armored personal carrier, the situation became all to clear:
> they were preparing a mass arrests of all the surrounded protestors—500
>to 600 in all.  IAC organizers began using their bullhorns to
>organize the crowd for arrest.  Eisenmenger and his crew  arrived.
>I got a call from him on my cell, and we could see each other
>across  the riot police line. Using our cells for sound,  I submitted
>a video report of the situation on the locked down street.  Jessica
>K. Glass and 5 or 6 other IMC journalists was trapped with me
>in on the street. While mainstream journalists were permitted
>to leave, independent media were not. Jessica nobly attempted
>to negotiate with the cops, but they made zero concessions. The
>only people permitted to leave were mainstream press.
>
>A crowd of supporters began gathering across the street from
>the 2oth and K intersection and started chanting "let them go,
>let them go, let them go!"
>
> Leutenant Jeff Harold of the DC police then rolled up on his
>motorcycle and took position in the center of the riot line.
>He announced the time, and then said something like: "You have
>marched without a permit. Arrests will begin immediately." At
>that point he gave an order, and the line of visored riot police
>advanced on us from both sides, in goose-step, grunting in unison
>like Conan with each step they took. They were closing in fast.
>  I quickly punch in the numbers of a friend in New York,  described
>our  predicament, and asked her to phone my family if she didn’t
>hear from me within 24 hours. As the cops moved in from both
>sides,  the crowd of protesters cleared the street and began
>hugging to the sides.  Just as it looked like I’d be spending
>A16 in the klink, I saw  a two person mainstream media unit heading
>for the line,  holding up their press credentials, making the
>break before they found their wrists in plastic. Deciding I had
>a shot at escape, I scooted up behind the two journalists, held
>up my camera like a press pass, and held my breath as I passed
>clean through the line of riot cops. A wave of joy shot through
>me once I realized I was free, and immediately tried calling
>Jessica on her cell phone to advise her  on how to slip through.
>No such luck. Within minutes I was photographing the cops force
>her hands behind her back, bind them with plastic cuffs, and
>escort her  through the DC drizzle to one of the prison buses.
>As she passed before the crowd, an IMC video worker shouted out
>an interview question, "Why are you here?" Jessica answered,
>"to send the messages that the corporate press will never carry.
>To free the media! Free the media!"
>
>On April 15, 2000, this is what democracy looks like.
>
>###
>
>For complete coverage of all the D.C. protests see: www.indymedia.org
>
>
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