[Nasional-m] Hundreds arrested at IMF protests

[Jeffrey Anjasmara]

Protes terhadap IMF ternyata diberantas habis karena akan mengganggu proses 
perampokan bangsa-bangsa miskin macam Indonesia.


Anjasmara

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Hundreds arrested at IMF protests
'G-24' finance ministers are meeting
>From Bob Franken, Shirley Hung and Mike Ahlers (CNN)
Friday, September 27, 2002 Posted: 5:50 PM EDT (2150 GMT)



Police clash with demonstrators in Washington, D.C. on Friday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Police in the District of Columbia drew a distinct and 
uncrossable line in the sand Friday for protesters targeting meetings of the 
International Monetary Fund and World Bank, taking 649 people into custody 
while avoiding the mass violence that has marred other such demonstrations 
in recent years.

Law enforcement sources estimated there were around 2,000 protesters 
throughout the day at different locations.

Some protesters threw rocks and smoke bombs in clashes with police on the 
rainy streets of the nation's capital, and others tried to block 
intersections and sidewalks. Those who caused a disturbance were taken away, 
while those who protested peacefully stayed, police said.

Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey said that some people had been 
taken into custody without formal arrest, including 40 picked up for 
blocking a sidewalk on Connecticut Avenue.

The protesters object to what they see as unfair IMF policies that benefit 
wealthier nations at the expense of developing nations. The IMF disagrees, 
saying it is the poor of the world who are benefited by its policies.

District of Columbia police arrested 21 people when they tried to block the 
intersection of 14th Street at Independence near the IMF meeting site. 
Another 40 people were arrested nearby in a skirmish with police that 
included rock throwing and smoke bombs.

In the first incident, 25 people sat down in the middle of the intersection, 
four of them chained together. Police gave the protesters two minutes to 
move, and only four complied.


A demonstrator is detained against a police cruiser in downtown Washington, 
D.C.


Police sawed the chains of the four who were chained together. All 21 will 
be charged with failing to obey police order, said D.C. Metropolitan Police 
Capt. Ralph McLein.

In the second incident, police clashed with about 150 protesters at a 
Citibank branch at the intersection of Vermont and K Streets.

In Georgetown, several dozen protesters chanted and partially disrobed 
outside two Gap stores, protesting the company's labor and environmental 
record. (Full story)

The executive director of the environmental group Greenpeace USA, John 
Passacantando, was among those arrested during the day, according to 
Greenpeace officials, who said Passacantando was not participating in the 
protests but had been swept up in the arrests while riding his bicycle to 
work.

Between 200 and 300 protesters gathered in a park near the site of the IMF 
meeting, but police said there had been no problems there.

About 1,500 D.C. police officers were being assisted by 1,700 officers from 
other jurisdictions around the country, D.C. police said.

Finance ministers of the Group of 24, or "G-24" -- 24 countries whose 
collective task is to coordinate the positions of developing nations on 
monetary and finance issues and to ensure that those positions are 
adequately represented to the IMF and World Bank -- were meeting at IMF 
headquarters on Friday, ahead of the IMF-World Bank annual meetings, which 
begin Sunday.

The G-24 consists of eight member-states each from Africa, Asia and Latin 
America and the Caribbean.

Finance ministers of the Group of 7, or "G-7," were also to meet on Friday 
to discuss economic and financial issues among the major industrial 
countries -- Canada, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United 
States and Italy.




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