Banner-Toting Protestors Fail To Stop IMF Meetings

For the last week, thousands of demonstrators have been protesting the I.M.F. and World Bank meetings, claiming their policies have been injurious to third world countries. <br><br>On Monday, for the first

Sunday, April 16th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

For the last week, thousands of demonstrators have been protesting the I.M.F. and World Bank meetings, claiming their policies have been injurious to third world countries.

On Monday, for the first time since this weekâ€™s protests in Washingtong DC began, police have used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters who were trying to block police cars and other vehicles from entering the secure area outside the meetings. Click here for video.

Police have arrested dozens of protesters today, in addition to more than six hundred over the weekend. Washington officials have called in the National Guard to prepare for more activists.

Masses of shouting anti-globalization protesters marched in the nation's capital Sunday, trying to disrupt international financial meetings. But early sessions got under way as delegates were spirited to work under extraordinary protection.

With helicopters whirling overhead and police sirens blasting, one protest group formed a circle on Pennsylvania Avenue about five blocks from the White House, their arms locked together in metal tubes called "lock boxes" or "sleeping dragons." Police used pepper spray and pushed people back with billy sticks at one point. The demonstrators blocked off numerous downtown streets around the IMF and were preventing people trying to get into the meetings. But the delegates got through and so did some IMF employees.

"It looks like most of them are here," Connie Lotze, speaking for the IMF, said. "People were advised to come in early, about 5o'clock."

One employee on a bicycle wore shorts and had a bandanna around his head, trying to fool the protesters. The IMF's first meeting of the day, with finance ministers from10 countries, started on time at 8:30 a.m., with Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers representing the United States. A street near the downtown campus of George Washington University was blocked by protesters who had strung up a large banner reading, "IMF Plus World Bank Equals Hundreds Rich, Billions Poor." Not far away, a dozen demonstrators jumped on the bumpers of a couple of tour buses, yelling at the sightseers inside, "Get off the bus, join us."

Marchers carried signs with slogans such as "Stop the War Against Poor" and "In All Your Decadence, People Die." Seattle environmental activist Dave Batker, 46, one of the multitude of protest leaders, acknowledged that security was so tight the demonstrators were unlikely to be able to stop the meetings, spread over Sunday and Monday. But he said protesters could get their message across.

"What we wanted to accomplish was to make the public aware of the need for major changes in the way the IMF and the World Bank operates," he said.

One goal of the protesters is to have the institutions forgive more debt in developing countries. Outside the White House grounds, more than 50 people lay down on the street, trying to stop an empty police bus from getting by. Police used sticks to try to push them away but eventually gave up and left the bus where it was. At another point, police in riot gear used pepper spray to control protesters who broke through a barrier. Mounted police used their horses to keep a crowd at bay on Pennsylvania Avenue, a block from the White House.

Police estimated 600 people were arrested Saturday for parading without a permit and similar charges, and led peacefully to waiting buses. Helmet-wearing officers made some 50 blocks off-limits around the World Bank headquarters, barring everyone from getting past metal barriers. Arrests that began early Saturday when police raided protesters 'headquarters continued into the into the cool, damp night â€“ weather reminiscent of Seattle, scene last December of similar demonstrations.

Police Chief Charles Ramsey said those arrested would be charged with "parading without a permit and refusal to disperse, among other things." Those who provide identification will be fined $50, he said. Those who don't will be fined $300.

"We have a right to be here and we also have a right to protest and we also have a right to walk away," said protester

Larry Holmes, complaining that police had penned demonstrators in a barricaded area to arrest them. Protesters complained that there was no warning before the arrests began.

"No matter how many of us are arrested today, we are resolved to carry our message to the streets tomorrow," said Ilyse Hogue of the Mobilization for Global Justice, the key organizer of the weekend demonstrations.

Demonstrators took over an abandoned row house in a poor part of the city as neighbors shouted at police to do something, and another group stripped down to their underwear in an anti-sweatshop demonstration in trendy Georgetown. But the largest group of protesters congregated as close as they could get to the World Bank and its sister lending institution, upset that police had shut down their protest headquarters, declaring it to be unsafe. Protesters accuse the World Bank and IMF of destroying the environment with dams and similar projects, allowing sweatshops and imposing harsh debt-repayment programs.