Smaller Crowd Expected At Sunday Demonstration
Washington Post / By Arthur Santana, Washington Post Staff Writer
Hundreds of D.C. police officers have been summoned to surprise training drills this week to prepare for a demonstration Sunday against global capitalism, but organizers say that there may be more police than protesters and that officials are overreacting.
Executive Assistant Chief Terrance W. Gainer said yesterday that police are expecting 500 to 5,000 people to protest the policies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
"That would be wonderful if we had those kind of numbers, but I seriously doubt it," said Adam Eidinger, protest organizer with Mobilization for Global Justice. "It's only going to number in the hundreds, not the thousands." I think you're going to see a picket, some speeches and maybe a march, but nothing at all" like last April, when demonstrators brought much of downtown to a standstill for two days during an IMF meeting.
Protesters were granted demonstration permits for Sunday at two small parks, allowing as many as 3,000 people in the area of Pennsylvania Avenue and 18th and 19th streets NW, across the street from the World Bank building, police said. Demonstrators expect to greet IMF and World Bank members as they come and go from the building beginning about 3 p.m. in order to "renew our campaign to cancel the debt of the poorest nations," Eidinger said. He said demonstrators do not plan to be arrested.
Nevertheless, police are gearing up. Yesterday, six platoons -- about 228 officers -- were called over their police radios to meet at 9 a.m. at Carter Barron Park, off 16th Street NW. Tuesday night, six other platoons with the Civil Disturbance Unit were called for a drill at the Ellipse.
"We were looking to see how quick they were to respond," Gainer said of yesterday's drill. He said the platoons did well.
In a parking lot at Carter Barron, officers participated in "as real as possible" protest scenarios, Gainer said. A police helicopter flew overhead to simulate "the noise and the wind and the confusion," Gainer said. Cones were used to set up mock intersections, and about 24 police recruits were called out from the police academy to act as protesters. The recruits went into nearby woods and came out waving tree branches and carrying debris to throw at the training officers, Gainer said.
In all, 1,500 officers will be assigned to IMF-related duties, and days off for all sworn officers have been canceled over the weekend, Gainer said.
The U.S. Park Police, who patrol national park grounds, also have canceled days off for all officers. The agency will use its horse-mounted unit and will have other special squads on standby, said Sgt. Rob MacLean, spokesman.
"Our intelligence indicates that this protest will not draw as many protesters as we saw last year," MacLean said. "However, we are preparing for a worst-case scenario."
Police also have begun to remove mailboxes, newspaper vending machines and garbage receptacles around the perimeter of the World Bank building, Gainer said. Perimeter fencing will be set up around the building,, and police will have gas masks.
Neil Watkins, of Mobilization for Global Justice, called the preparations excessive. "We'll have speeches, street theater and some rallies, but I don't think that's any reason to create some kind of militarized zone," he said.
Police won't decide whether to close any streets until this weekend, Gainer said.
Gainer defended the police actions, saying that since the Quebec protests last weekend -- in which 400 of about 20,000 demonstrators were arrested in two days of confrontations during the Summit of the Americas -- police cannot be overprepared. "Practice makes perfect," Gainer said. "And that's what we're trying to be."
Eidinger said Sunday's protest will be a launchpad for a large protest next fall. From Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank will convene in Washington. "Everyone's coming for that," he said of fellow protesters. "It's going to be big."
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