A violent group of people are organizing for the upcoming IMF/World Bank protests in Washington, DC. This group is organizing their forces, training their troops, buying instruments of violence, and spreading hysteria about the other side. This group is taking millions of public funds and spending that money on tear gas, bulletproof vests, rubber bullets, police dogs, pepper spray and lots and lots of police overtime. We call this group the Blue Bloc. Everybody else calls them the police.

Cops Caught Red-Handed!
Pigs Pester Pasters

I try to think more about the random guy and his girlfriend we met at Dupont Circle who was overjoyed to have finally discovered where these posters came from, the IAC activist who joined our streetside discussion moments later with even more enthusiasm, or the students from the George Washington Action Coalition out for a late-night bicycle ride on P Street who stopped off and jazzed us up with a quick blast of solidarity ("Yo, wheatpasters!") to take my mind off the "neighbor" on Connecticut Avenue who stalked us -- tearing down posters -- for two blocks with his twisted brand of "civic pride", and the DC cop who became frustrated with his own piss-poor knowledge of the law and inability to cite us and proceeded to stalk us and tear down posters all the way down P Street from Dupont Circle almost to Georgetown -- committing no less than half a dozen separate basic Constitutional violations in the process -- against a crew made up of this reporter's comrades Adam Eidinger, Alexis Baden-Mayer and Steve McClure.

FAQ on the Washington, DC Authorities

Version 1.0 / September 9, 2001

Have the Washington police engaged in harassment of activists in the weeks leading up to the protests?

Yes. The D.C. police have already started harassment and provocation of the local activists who are organizing for the protests. The police have been actively tearing down posters all over town and threatening activists. One police officer told an activist who was postering that he was going to break that activist's arm. Like last year, the police have engaged in break-ins of activist vehicles and have engaged in the theft of activist posessions. The police have an ongoing program of surveillance of activists, which includes the maintenance of a database on local activists.

What are the police telling their rank-and-file officers about the protestors?

The Metropolitan Police Department has this reputation in the local media that they are "in control" of the protests and that they aren't violent. The MPD is actively engaged in prejudicing its police force against activists and protestors. They have prepared a new training video which focuses on how to identify different elements among the protestors. Its main focus is on how to identify members of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence and it suggests to officers that any group of three or more people wearing black should be attacked. Other targets in the training video include street medics and Indymedia journalists. Part of the video instructs motorcycle police to either ride *through* protestors or *over* them. Last year the police department used racial messages to incite the police department against the protestors.

The Washington Metropolitan Police Department has requested over $30 million from the D.C. and U.S. governments. What is that money being spent on?

Most of the money is not being spent on the "fence." Several million dollars are being spent on the fence and several million more on tear gas and other weapons, but most of the money will be spent on police overtime. The protests are being used as an excuse to pad police pocketbooks. In fact, this personal payoff is being used as a hook to recruit cops from other jurisdictions, including New York City.

Is there any truth to the rumor that the police will be using the National Guard?

This is an unconfirmed rumor, but a sympathetic source inside the MPD (who doesn't like fighting protestors and is unhappy about racist and homophobic emails being circulated inside the department) has informed us that the MPD is in negotiations with the U.S. government to deputize National Guard members if the number of protestors exceeds estimates.

What about the Feds?

Washington, DC may often feel like "one big cop," but it actually has dozens of police and security forces, ranging from the transit police to the U.S. Park Police. The Park Police have jurisdiction over most of the parks in downtown Washington, including Dupont Circle. You are likely to see them on horses (their horse facility is in Rock Creek Park). The main Fed police force involved in the protests is the Secret Service. The S.S. is controlled by the Treasury Department, which has an institutional relationship with the World Bank and IMF. The S.S. conducted break-ins last year of activist residences.

What do the police mean when they say that they are "protecting public safety"?

This means that they are using violence against members of the public so that a group of rich, violent bankers can have their meetings without disruption.

Police Actions During A16

Violence Against the Public

Raid of the Convergence Center