MORNING COFFEE TAKEN WITH BLAST OF TEAR GAS, BLOOD
By Mark Hume
WASHINGTON - Inside Fortress America paranoia is rampant, the predominant
sound is the thud of a helicopter overhead, and it's getting hard to tell
the revolutionaries from the establishment. In a surreal scene here
yesterday, riot police wielding batons chased demonstrators through the
streets of the central business district, clubbing them, spraying them and
blasting off percussion grenades, while astonished citizens looked on.
What they saw as they walked to work, carrying their briefcases and morning
coffee, were scenes of fleeting, but unforgettable violence. A woman
spewing blood on the sidewalk while protesters wearing red crosses on their
arms tried to help. A young man, reeling along like a drunk, his face
white, mucus running from his eyes, mouth and nose from a blast of pepper
spray before volunteer medics grabbed him. While police chased the
demonstrators, the wounded fell away. One man was left leaning against a
building near some office workers, a makeshift bandage wrapped around his
head to stem the blood flowing from below his left ear.
Rob Fish, 21, from Stanhope, N.J., an independent photographer, was trying
to shoot pictures of demonstrators fleeing a phalanx of riot police when a
man wearing street clothes suddenly hit him with a club. "I didn't even
know it was a police officer," he said, a blank look of shock on his face.
"I called for police to arrest him. But when they came over they started
hitting me ... I don't know how many times they hit me. At least twice ...
They tried to step on my camera, but I managed to throw it across to a friend."
He refused to be taken to hospital. "The hospital is a police state," said
an angry young woman who was helping him.
The violence erupted at about 8:15 a.m., shortly after two groups of
protesters, numbering a few hundred, converged near Farragut Square, about
three blocks from the White House. They headed west down I Street, outside
a police fence, going toward one of the main entrances to the well-guarded
buildings where delegates to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund
were meeting. The protesters were behaving peacefully, chanting slogans and
beating on drums. But when they hit the intersection leading to the World
Bank, they marched right into the path of a police car escorting a van
loaded with conference delegates.
A police officer jumped out of his vehicle -- and that was the spark that
would trigger panic and violence. "I think somebody touched him," said
Kenyon, a man who was at the front. "He started swinging his club, then
more police came piling out of the van ... the grenades went off ... it was
mayhem." A riot squad that had been guarding a security fence leaped into
the fray, and suddenly undercover police officers seemed to be everywhere,
coming out of the crowd and jumping out of unmarked cars. Some of the
undercover officers pulled on arm patches that identified them, but some
didn't bother. They pulled clubs out of car trunks and started chasing
protesters along with the riot squad. "I guess it's kind of shocking. It's
kind of hard to believe," said Chris Hamaty, a patent lawyer who was
standing on the sidewalk, his briefcase in hand. He was on his way to work
when he heard the protest march coming, and stood aside to watch. He said
the protesters were raising important issues.
A few blocks away, Charles Harrison, an accountant, walked along the
sidewalk while a squad of riot police charged down the middle of the street
beside him. Commuter traffic ground to a sudden halt, and people came to
their office windows to watch, while the police pursued a group of about
100 demonstrators who were fleeing ahead of them. "This is pretty
incredible," said Mr. Harrison. "I remember this as a kid, in 1968, when
they had [urban] riots here. But we haven't seen anything like this since
then. "I lived in Washington all my life, and I can tell you, you don't see
stuff like this."
Mr. Harrison, an African American, said the black community has not been
paying a lot of attention to the protests, but he felt the dramatic events
here had changed that. "Most African Americans don't know what this is all
about, but there's a program about it on the black radio network. I will
listen to that. I want to be better informed," he said.
The clash shattered efforts to organize a morning rally near the World
Bank. With squads of police chasing protesters through the streets, it
seemed like the final day of protest was going to be over before it got
started. "This feels to me like a clean up by the police," said Jaggi
Singh, a student from Montreal. "The police are acting like a gang,
reclaiming their turf. They're saying 'You had the streets yesterday, we're
takin' it today'. " But he predicted the protesters would somehow find a
way to rebound.
The small, scattered groups began slowly to coalesce, as word passed to
rally at The Ellipse, a public park near the South Lawn of the White House.
The gathering was hampered by the fact that protesters, alarmed by the role
the undercover police had played, began to suspect anyone they didn't know.
"Watch it, there are undercover cops among us," shouted one man. "This guy!
This guy!" he said pointing at a man in blue jeans, a sweat shirt and a
baseball cap who was carrying a video camera. As people crowded around him,
police in plain clothes, but wearing arm bands, ran to his assistance.
One protest organizer I approached jumped back when I touched his arm,
thinking he was about to be arrested. "I'm sorry," he said. "You just don't
know who to trust." He said the protest would go on, but it would be
difficult. His group of about 200 demonstrators snaked through back
streets, picking up supporters wherever they could -- eventually catching
up to the main protest group of about 5,000 marching up 14th Street. The
crowd flooded onto the street, blocking traffic as they marched past
government office buildings which were closed for the day because of the
protest.
Arthur Meister, an architect, stood on the sidewalk as they passed. "I
think it's fantastic," he said of the protest. "You've gotta be aware of
what's going on. You can't go through life thinking corporations will look
out for you. They look out for the bottom line. That's the message they are
getting across, and I'm all for it."
--
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