Several hundred people, including AU students, protested the International Monetary Fund and World Bank's annual meetings over the weekend, at times clashing with police.
Wearing black clothing and covering their faces with bandanas to avoid being identified, around 200 to 300 protesters marched through Georgetown Friday night, and around 300 demonstrated in front on the World Bank building Saturday, according to The Washington Post.
Police blocked traffic on most of M Street and several Georgetown shops boarded its windows Friday in preparation for the march.
Scores of police escorted the tight blocks of demonstrators around several Georgetown streets. Protesters overturned trash cans, threw objects at windows and chanted slogans such as "Whose streets? Our streets!" and "Resistance is unstoppable, another world is possible!"
The demonstrations were largely controlled by police, but violence did occasionally erupt. A woman bled after being struck in the face with a projectile, marchers snatched a camcorder from a Fox News reporter and a police officer was pushed from a scooter. Occasionally, the protesters blocked police on motorcycles, who then rammed into the back of the marchers' legs.
Many AU students at the march refused to comment and did not want to be identified. One student who agreed to comment anonymously said she went to the march in Georgetown because it was where the IMF and World Bank delegates were staying and dining.
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IMF QUICK FACT SHEET Protests this weekend in Georgetown focused on the meeting between the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Some facts about the IMF are:
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Another protester, who was not an AU student and wished to remain anonymous, said the IMF, the World Bank and Georgetown are specific beneficiaries of a system that creates poverty, which is why the protesters were fighting them.
The Saturday demonstrations in front of the World Bank and IMF buildings were more peaceful. A crowd chanted slogans, danced to drums and instruments and held a "people's tribunal" in Murrow Park, which is near the White House, featuring speakers from India, El Salvador, Haiti and other developing nations to testify about IMF and World Bank policies in their countries.
Violence broke out once Saturday, however, when some protesters pushed up against a police line and officers drove into the crowd, pushing protesters back with their batons and causing many to stumble and fall.
The protests were organized by the "October Coalition," a group of organizers and activists. The rallies were advertised on the group's Web site, www.octoberrebellion.org.
