WASHINGTON DC, 9/27/02 -- We arrived at Franklin Square at K & 13th Streets, sometime after 7:00am. About 200 activists were gathering. We talked to 28 year-old Steven Clapp of Silver Spring, Maryland.

Clapp was there with two women, modern dancers all. Clapp was here to "protest the destructive policies of the IMF and World Bank." According to Clapp, "there can be no peace in the world until the policies defining the global situation, especially capitalism, shifts. The control of the IMF on developing nations is too restrictive ... structural adjustment programs can't help economies in the long run. Look at Argentina and Colombia." As many have voiced since the April 2000 protests in DC, Clapp believes that reforming the IMF is not good enough. He sees hope in the development of the World Social Forum as well as projects such as the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development. While he admitted that "personally I don't have the background to envision specifics," he believes that principles of "decentralization and participation" can guide an economy conceived as a "network, rather than a hierarchy." The lead cannot come from "business and government," rather participatory social movements.

Clapp and his friends hoped that the day would be peaceful as they intended to protest both Friday and Saturday. The drums began to sound. Steven Clapp and his two friends began to dance.

At 7:40am a young man with a red and black flag informed people to follow behind a red banner. The 200 or so activists followed behind the banner "Globalization, Not Devastation." The march was a "snake march," but did not travel very far. As the activists reached Vermont & L Streets, they encountered a line of DC Metro Police. The marchers "snaked" onto the sidewalk, then onto the street south, only to encounter another line of police blocking them at Vermont & 15th. The protesters were blocked in, and with them were media and legal observers. Soon thereafter, a "black-clad" individual broke a window of the CitiBank at the corner. It was unclear where this individual, who "hit and run," came from. The blocked-in activists had been marching peaceably. The situation grew tense.

Police then corralled the activists against the CitiBank window. Reporters from Baltimore Independent Media were among those trapped by police. There were also reporters from other media as well as legal observers whose lime-green hats stood out. Baltimore IMCers, and some others, got out when an NBC reporter convinced a sergeant to let him out as press.

There were over 100 arrests here hauled off on three transit buses to the Police Training Academy for detainment, according to an officer.

We talked to Ashley Dalton, a student from the University of Georgia. Dalton came with an affinity group of 20-25. Dalton, whose major is secondary education, came to learn about the IMF and the World Bank. She knew that there were people who advocated abolishing these institutions and some who called for reform. She wanted to learn more. Dalton was concerned about the window-breaking. "Violence and property destruction is not what we had in mind....The media will report the window-breaking as violence, maybe even call those who engage in such activity 'a terrorist.'" According to Dalton, if activists engage in such activity, it can "discredit you."

As the police were processing the 100 or so activists, we talked to Brendan McCall who was at the protest with an affinity group from Alleghany College in Pennsylvania. Four from his group of seven were arrested. According to McCall, after the police corralled activists, they "arbitrarily arrested people." An officer would say "get those four" and four more would be arrested. McCall was also surprised at the brutal way in which police responded to any resistance from the youth present.

At approximately 8:25am, while these arrests were being processed, John McGill and a woman friend were attacked by police in front of the Marriott Metro Hotel. McGill, an international development consultant for the Agency for International Development, and his friend were bicycling to work. By chance, Police Chief Ramsey and motorcycle officers were converging upon a small group of activists. McGill and friend were caught. They told Ramsey that they were going to work. According to McGill, Ramsey replied "you don't have lights on your bike." But it was daylight. Ramsey then said "you don't have horns." The police moved in. McGill's friend was beat to the ground by Officer W.C. Harris, according to McGill. John McGill, who we met across from Freedom Plaza, left us looking for a legal observer to help him get his friend out of jail.

We arrived at Pershing Park (15th & Pennsylvania Avenue) sometime after 9:00am. Police had lined the west side and the north side of this public park. There was chanting, drumming and dancing. A woman carried a sign which said "Economic Terrorism: IMF/WB. In Money We Trust." There were more than 200 in the park. An activist told us he asked a police officer "What's happening?" To which the officer replied "It's a game of tag." Soon the east and south borders of the park were surrounded by police. The activists, who intended to eventually move to the permitted rally at Freedom Plaza across 14th Street, were trapped. And so were IMCers from Baltimore and Georgia. After several failed attempts to be let through the police line, a lieutenant said that those with press identification could cross. We were now on the other side, observing.

It took about three hours for the police to arrest the more than 300 people who were in a public park simply chanting, drumming, dancing. While this went on, 150-200 rallied at Freedom Plaza (14th & Penn.). Here we talked to Bakka, an activist from Baltimore sporting a blue and red bandanna which covered his face. Bakka was here to protest "capitalism as a global system and the policies of the IMF and World Bank." He encouraged citizens to join the "People's Strike," called by the Anti-Capitalist Convergence, to leave work to show "solidarity." The IMF/World Bank can't be reformed, according to Bakka. "We need a society based on mutual aid, the only way to sustain society for a long-term civilization."

We moved to 15th and Pennsylvania South where another group of protesters observed the arrests in Pershing Park. Here we heard chants of "We All Live in a Military State, a Military State, a Military State," of "This is What Democracy Looks Like! This is What Hypocrisy looks Like!," of "Ramsey, Ramsey. What Do You Say? How Many of our Rights Have You Taken Away?"

Here a number of reporters spoke to lawyer Mara Verheyden-Hilliard. Noting that "mass sweeps" have become a "repeated practice in recent years," Verheyden-Hilliard pointed out that Pershing Park is a "public park and that people are allowed to march on the sidewalk in DC." Verheyden-Hilliard was not aware that anyone in the park had violated the law. She also noted that she understood "people were not allowed to disperse." Verheyden-Hilliard told press that "there needs to be more people in government who stand up for people's right to express their First Amendment rights."

Apparently, not only is freedom of speech at risk, but humane treatment by the police. According to Mike Sanvely, a student from Miami University in Ohio, an arrestee was treated violently by police. This person was "resisting" in some fashion while in a police bus. Sanvely observed two to four officers enter the bus and throw this individual out a back window. His body hit the street and "went limp." According to Sanvely, his legs and neck were limp and he seemed unconscious. This arrestee was then thrown into a separate police van.

Limp bodies, action choreographed by the DC Metro Police, by the "police state." The last time we saw modern dancers Steven Clapp and his two friends, they were dancing to the drum-beats in Pershing Park. Their bodies's motion fluid, beautiful, choreographed by artist-activists seeking a more democratic, more humane world. These modern dancers were likely hauled off with the 349 arrested at Pershing Park to the Police Training Academy where they, no doubt, sat for hours wrist cuffed to opposite angle, twisted, in pain, denied the right to dance.

See also the following eyewitness reports posted on DC IMC:

dc.indymedia.org/front.php3

dc.indymedia.org/front.php3

dc.indymedia.org/front.php3

dc.indymedia.org/front.php3

See also photography and video from September 28--Day Two of the Protests Against the IMF/World Bank:

baltimore.indymedia.org/media/protests/display/578/index.php .