============================================================================
From: "Carolyn Ballard" <•••@••.•••>
To: •••@••.•••
Subject: Fw: Nonviolent IMF, World Bank Demonstrators Subject to Widespread
Police Abuse
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2000 22:08:09 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: Mobilization Media <•••@••.•••>
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2000 4:10 PM
Subject: Nonviolent IMF, World Bank Demonstrators Subject to Widespread
Police Abuse
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 4:00 PM, April 18, 2000
CONTACT: Adam Eidinger 202- 789-5419 or 202-744-2617
Nonviolent IMF, World Bank Demonstrators Subject to Widespread
Police Abuse New Accounts Detail Gross Mistreatment in Jail
and in the Streets
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- New reports of peaceful protesters
beaten by police and U.S. Marshals, denied food and water and
stripped of their basic constitutional rights give the lie to
early accounts of police restraint during massive protests
against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF).
"The role of the police is to protect and serve the interests
of the American public," said Patrick Reinsborough an
organizer with The Mobilization for Global Justice.
"Instead, we have seen the police use violence against
peaceful demonstrators and militarize downtown Washington in
an attempt to silence and intimidate the growing movement to
hold these undemocratic institutions accountable."
Reports gathered by the Midnight Special Legal Collective, a
group of public interest lawyers providing support to the
demonstrator, detail widespread mistreatment of non-violent
activists.
One non-violent protester had 3 ribs broken while he was
arrested.
Another protester was beaten in the face and then loaded into
a 'paddy wagon,' leaving a pool of blood in the street. A
police official told the drivers of the paddy wagon not to
offload him at the jail but to drive him around for several
hours, and then to drop him off near a hospital.
At midnight on Monday, many activists still reported being
denied food and water. Some were arrested at 4 AM, 20 hours
earlier. Rachel Weber, a recent Harvard graduate from Boston,
watched as one woman in her cell, who has hypoglycemia, began
to throw up from lack of food. Police denied repeated
requests for food or medical assistance.
One group of men was taken into a basement, put into a cage,
and told by a U.S. Marshall, "There are no cameras here. We
can do whatever we want." Anyone who looked up while the
Marshall was speaking was punched in the face.
Another activist saw a U.S. Marshalls slam people's faces into
a wall.
Jennifer Kirby, a housing advocate from Washington D.C., was
part of a group of activists who took over an abandoned home
to protest unfair evictions and social service cuts in the
District of Columbia. "The police came in and dragged us out
of the house. As the police dragged the last person out of
the house, one officer was kicking him and saying 'stop
attacking my foot' and then all the police slammed him against
a wall, saying 'stop attacking the wall.' They dragged him
into a six-inch deep puddle and left him in it got five
minutes while they kicked him," said Kirby.
Officers also used a variety of abusive tactics to pit
activists in Jail against each other and to break "Jail
Solidarity," cooperation between activists designed to ensure
fair treatment by police.
Black Echo a spectator at the arraignment of several hundred
activists, heard the presiding commissioner Ringelle imply
that if activists did not cooperate he would place them with
the general jail population, where they they would be raped.
"He told us 'For a day or a week or a month [Jail] is not a
pleasant place. People get sodomized. The inmates run the
D.C. Prison. . In the prison, the weak are preyed upon,"
said Black Echo.
Another group of activists activist was also threatened with
incarceration with the general population, and told "they love
to kill white boys over there, you pussy-faggot protesters."
"This is just another example of what we've seen everywhere
around the world when these fundamentally undemocratic
institutions. The World Bank and the IMF and the WTO rely on
police military force to repress popular opposition to their
policies. We saw it last week in Bolivia, last year in
Indonesia and Seattle. Here in DC the police were more media
savvy and their violence was more targeted, but it was still
designed to intimidate and silence. The good news is, it
isn't working, and this movement to shut down the World Bank
and the IMF is gaining strength every day." said Beka
Economopoulos, an organizer with the Mobilization for Global
Justice.
============================================================================
To: <•••@••.•••>
From: "Brian Hill" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Fw: DC's "Peace" officers Brutalize Nonviolent Protestors
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 06:37:41 -0700
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Priority: 3
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Hunt <<mailto:•••@••.•••>•••@••.•••>
To: <mailto:•••@••.•••>•••@••.•••
<<mailto:•••@••.•••>•••@••.•••>
Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2000 03:54
Subject: DC's "Peace" officers Brutalize Nonviolent Protestors
Beatings and Intimidation While in Custody
[4/18 1pm] The legal team reports that released protesters are
documenting widespread abuses by federal marshals of the
people in custody. These reports affirm the effectiveness of
the jail solidarity: widespread racist and anti-gay language,
intimidation, and physical beatings are being used by marshals
in an effort to curtail the solidarity and restrict the
protesters constitutionally protected rights. Several dozen
incidents have been reported, even though the legal team has
had almost no access to most of the people being held.
Jails Full: Protesters Being Dropped Off in Remote Locations
[4/18 1pm] Unconfirmed reports indicate that the jails are so
overwhelmed that some of the incarcerated are being loaded
into vans wearing their orange prison jumpsuits, driven in
groups of ten, and dropped off without any paperwork in remote
places. Many others have chosen to "post and forfeit," paying
fines of $50-100, some giving their names and some being
arraigned with their first names only.
Update on Non-violent Protesters Injured By Police [4/18 2pm]
The medical team confirmed the following injuries to
protesters:
Man with head injury (4/17) A man was sent to the emergency
room for examination.
Person dragged by police car (4/17) A person was injured after
being dragged by a police car that refused to yield.
Man with ankle injury (4/17) Police on horseback injured a
protester.
Man with crushed finger (4/17) Police on horseback injured a
protester.
Woman struck in face (4/17) A woman was sent to GW Hospital
with a broken nose after being assaulted by police.
Dozens of people were treated for lacerations, pepper spray,
tear gas, and other injuries at make-shift clinics set up in
the streets. The medical team further reports that with the
partial reopening of the convergence space, 24,000 gauze pads,
2,000 gloves, and hundreds of sanitary pads have been
determined to not be a threat to the health of the people of
DC. Sweatshops, toxic industries, pesticide use, genetic
engineering, global climate change, and environmental
devastation, however, continue unabated.
Jail Solidarity Continues: Hundreds Denied Access to Legal
Team [4/18 1pm] At least 200-300 people - perhaps hundreds
more - continue to practice solidarity while in jail. These
people are not complying with marshal's demands for
identification until it can be verified that all urgent
medical needs are addressed and everyone has been able to see
a lawyer. The legal team reports that their access to the
protesters in jail is so limited they have seen only a few
dozen, cannot assist with even urgent medical needs, and have
not been able to get a count of the total number of protesters
being held. Strong solidarity continues on both the men's and
women's sides, even though marshals have separated those in
custody into groups of 10-15 in a effort to impair
communication and reduce support for injured or brutalized
protesters.
Call the authorities to express your outrage:
Central Holding 202-727-4213
DC Jail 202-673-8000
Cell B & C 202-727-2392
Superior Court 202-879-1010
Police Academy 202-645-0055
Subdistrict #4 202-727-4655
Please continue the solidarity by not giving the names of
those in custody.
Tuesday-Wednesday: Rally at 500 Indiana Avenue Hundreds
gathered Tuesday at 500 Indiana Avenue to show solidarity with
the protesters being held. About 60 stayed through the night,
drumming and enjoying the food and drinks of the mobile
kitchen. Please join us or call 202-544-9360 for recorded
information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[4/19 1am] Legal Observers are reminded to send their notes and film to
Zak Wolfe
Law Offices of Jim Drew
1322 18th St NW #300
Washington DC 20036
•••@••.•••
On the Net:
Mobilization for Global Justice, site for protesters:
<http://www.a16.org>http://www.a16.org
Religious Working Group on the World Bank and IMF
<http://Religiouswg.org>http://Religiouswg.org
50 Years is Enough!
<http://www.50years.org>http://www.50years.org
WhirledBank
<http://www.whirledbank.org>http://www.whirledbank.org
Jubilee 2000/USA
<http://www.j2000usa.org>http://www.j2000usa.org
============================================================================
X-Sender: •••@••.•••
X-Priority: 1 (Highest)
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 12:41:28
To: •••@••.•••
From: Mitchel Cohen <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Support Needed NOW for Anti-IMF Arrestees in DC
Mime-Version: 1.0
Please Re-Post Everywhere
Dear Comrades,
I've just spoken with the anti-IMF/World Bank legal team in
Washington DC, which is in overdrive. At least 200 people --
including at least one member of our Greens' Action Committee
affinity group, going by the nickname "flounder" (and other NY
Greens, too, going by the affinity name "Tiger Greens" --
sorry, I don't know their individual nicknames) -- remain in
jail. (1,300 had been arrested overall.) They are doing total
jail solidarity, which means they are not giving their names
or addresses, and are refusing to comply with the system in
any way.
Almost all of the arrests are illegal, and lawsuits will be
filed. But we've got to get them out now! It's very important
that we exert as much pressure as we can NOW. It is total
bullshit for the press to say that the cops in DC were
"gentle," unlike Seattle. Many protesters were and continue to
be severely abused and brutalized by cops, prison guards, and
officials at every level. I've just received reports that even
a press conference on Tuesday was pepper-sprayed by the
police. (On the other hand, more humorously, the national
guard tear-gassed affinity groups barricading an intersection
before the local police had a chance to put on their gas
masks, so the National Guard ended up teargassing the police
as well! :-) We need to mobilize to put pressure on the system
to release all of the arrestees now. (See Mark Krupanski's
letter, posted at end, for recent update.) Here's what you
should do:
Call up as many of the phone numbers below as you can, and
tell them you are aware of and outraged by the mistreatment of
non-violent demonstrators. Do NOT use the real names of anyone
in jail; please respect their decision to refuse to comply in
any way with the authorities. Demand that they be released
immediately, tell them which groups you represent (if any),
and announce that you are spreading the word. (Below the phone
numbers is a list of some of the abuses folks are being
subjected to). Some officials may feign ignorance. Don't
believe them. Some may say "There's nothing I can do." Give
them an earful, anyway. Just tell them what you think and move
to the next number. Thousands are calling from all over the
world. Thank you very much.
- Mitchel Cohen,
NY State Greens Action Committee, and the
Red Balloon Collective
Numbers to call (all numbers are 202 area code):
Call the Warden (Patricia Brittain): 673-8202
Corporation Counsel (lawyers for City: Robert Rigsby): 727-6248, 727-9813
DC Mayor Anthony Williams's office: 727-2980
Superior Court: 879-1010
DC Chief of Staff: 727-2643
DC Public Advocate: 673-4421
Dept. of Correction: 673-7316
DC Chief Judge: 879-2770
DC Executive Officer Ulysses Hammond: 879-1700
Superior Court Chief Judge Eugene Hamilton & Amice Wagner (lying to
demonstrators): 879-1600
Clerk of the Court: 879-1401
US Atty. For DC: 514-2000 (insist on an investigation and prosecution on
abuses, civil rights violations, and homophobia)
Central Holding: 727-2894
1st District Sub Station: 727-4655
Police Academy: 645-0055 (some detainees held here)
Cell Block B & C: 727-2392
Police Gym: 727-4213
DC Mayor's office e-mail is: •••@••.•••
Their website is www.washingtondc.gov
RE: Homophobic Comments and Rape Threats
DC Dept of corrections 202-673-7316
US Attorney for DC 202-514-2000 (demand prosecution for hate crimes)
Chief of Police, Office of the
Chief Charles H. Ramsey
Police Headquarters
202-727-4218
202-727-9524 (fax)
E-mail address: •••@••.•••
You can find a directory of the offices of the entire Metro DC PD at
http://www.mpdc.org/frame.htm
Please call the Washington Post and demand to know why these abuses haven't
been
reported. 202-334-7410
Continue to call US attorney's office as well as your local
senators and congresspeople to demand these abuses are
prosecuted, and most importantly, that the demonstrator's
rights are granted. The demonstrators' demands are
the following:
-For all arrestees to be held together in the same room.
-To have vegetarian food and water available
-To have legal access to lawyers from our legal team
-An end to the physical and verbal harassment, and for those who committed
them to be dealt with and prosecuted.
***********************************************
From Bob Lederer:
One dear friend from ACT UP (whose NYC & Phila. chapters
mobilized more than 300 people for the Sun. rally) just called
me from the DC Detention Facility to say that his time in jail
-- 48 hours thus far -- was "the most fantastic experience" he
had ever had, due to the "incredible solidarity" being shown
by activists from a broad range of social movements. There are
constant strategy meetings being held, including one last nite
where the authorities allowed the men and women to meet
together. So the struggle continues, and out of this
repression will undoubtedly come an even stronger and more
determined movement against global capitalism.
PPS. If anyone has time to help write a press release for the
gay press about all this, please contact me immediately
<•••@••.•••>.
******************************************************
Please Circulate Widely
IMF, World Bank Demonstrators Subject to Widespread Police Abuse
New Accounts Detail Gross Mistreatment in Jail and in the Streets
New reports of peaceful protesters beaten by police and U.S.
Marshals, denied food and water and stripped of their basic
constitutional rights give the lie to early accounts of police
restraint during massive protests against the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- Detainees have deen denied food, water, toilets, medical
attention, and access to lawyers.
- One instance was reported of an interrogator posing as a
member of the Midnight Special Legal Collective, the volunteer
lawyers representing the activists.
- One non-violent protester had 3 ribs broken while he was
arrested.
- Another protester was beaten in the face and then loaded
into a patrol wagon, leaving a pool of blood in the street. A
police official told the drivers not to offload him at the
jail but to drive him around for several hours, and then to
drop him off near a hospital.
- At midnight on Monday, many activists still reported being
denied food and water. Some were arrested at 4 AM, 20 hours
earlier. Rachel Weber, a recent Harvard graduate from Boston,
watched as one woman in her cell, who has hypoglycemia, began
to throw up from lack of food. Police denied repeated requests
for food or medical assistance.
- One group of men was taken into a basement, put into a cage,
and told by a U.S. Marshall, "There are no cameras here. We
can do whatever we want." Anyone who looked up while the
Marshall was speaking was punched in the face.
- Another activist saw a U.S. Marshalls slam people's faces
into a wall.
- Arrestees had been denied access to lawyers, despite
repeated requests.
- Mike Montella and I (Mitchel Cohen) demanded to be allowed
into the Court building as people began being processed at 1
am Tuesday morning. Despite our press credentials and the law
which says that court proceedings must be open to the public,
9 US marshalls ordered us away from the building, saying "the
building is closed." When we insisted on our rights, their
supervisor ordered us again to leave, but refused my repeated
requests for his name or position. We were "escorted" away
from the building and backed away quickly as they began
reaching for their handcuffs.
- People were being released from prison in the middle of a
cold, rainy night, without jackets, shoes, in some cases
without shirts, and without any money to take a bus or cab
anywhere -- all had been taken from them by officials. Some
were shell-shocked. Others are already suffering from Post
Traumatic Stress. None had been allowed medical attention
while in jail. One woman released at 6 am Tuesday had to be
taken to a hospital by ambulance after passing out as she was
released from jail. Many prisoners are in dire need of
emergency medical attention that is being denied them in jail.
- Jennifer Kirby, a housing advocate from Washington D.C., was
part of a group of activists who took over an abandoned home
to protest unfair evictions and social service cuts in the
District of Columbia. "The police came in and dragged us out
of the house. As the police dragged the last person out of the
house, one officer was kicking him and saying "stop attacking
my foot" and then all the police slammed him against a wall,
saying "stop attacking the wall." They dragged him into a
six-inch deep puddle and left him in it for five minutes while
they kicked him," said Kirby.
Officers also used a variety of abusive tactics to pit
activists in Jail against each other, trying to break "Jail
Solidarity" -- cooperation between activists designed to
ensure fair treatment by police. These intimidation tactics
include:
- Black Echo a spectator at the arraignment of several hundred
activists, heard the presiding commissioner Ringelle imply
that if activists did not cooperate he would place them with
the general jail population, where they they would be raped.
He told us "For a day or a week or a month [Jail] is not a
pleasant place. People get sodomized. The inmates run the D.C.
Prison. In the prison, the weak are preyed upon."
- Another group of activists was also threatened with
incarceration with the general population, and told "they love
to kill white boys over there, you pussy-faggot protesters."
- Detainees are taken into solitary confinement and lied to,
told that they are the last ones in jail, that they won't be
released before their court date in July, that they have no
rights.
The real threat is not from other prisoners -- it's from the
guards, the police, and city officials who have been
brutalizing people. These intimidation tactics, their rape
threats, their homophobia, their racism, are scary -- but THEY
ARE NOT WORKING! We remain strong and united!
The Midnight Special Law Collective is asking all concerned to
call as many of the following numbers to help them in their
efforts to gain justice for the remaining 200 IMF/WB
detainees. Giving no names, express concern that detainees
are being abused, and demand their immediate release.
*************************************************
A message posted by Ben Shepard of reclaim the streets reads:
In a remarkable and inspiring show of the power of the people
against global capitalism, much of the U.S. Government was
shut down yesterday and 1,300 people were arrested by the
Washington D.C. police department over the past three days.
Many, many arrestees are still in jail and having a bad time
of it. Many of them have been held in very poor conditions
without food and water and been denied access to lawyers. They
need your pressure from the outside to blanket the Police
Dept., courts and Mayor's office with phone calls demanding
their immediate release.
<snip>
I tried [calling] the Mayor's office and was gratified to hear
they had been receiving calls on the arrestees all day. When I
told them that people were being held in disgraceful
conditions, the operator told me that they were aware of that.
She suggested that I call the Superior Court. I did and they
told me they were not giving out information or taking
complaints.
Please, please, make calls to all these organizations. Even
if they say they are not taking complaints, we believe the
calls are noted. Also, since arrestees are mostly not giving
their names, please do not give names of specific people who
were arrested when you call. Say that you understand that
arrestees have been denied access to laywers and treated
terribly. Demand the immediate release of all arrestees.
************************************
READ!!!!
From: Marc J Krupanski <•••@••.•••>
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 08:51:15 -0700
i have been in contact with dc mayor williams' office, dc jail
warden patricia britain, and mdc chief ramsey's office and i'm
still waiting for a response...
they said they would respond today with an update...i will
give any and all info asap.
i'm not sure if it was put out on this list, but i have
received reports that protestors outside the holding cells
have been sprayed with pepper spray and have faced grave
intimidation.
the word on the inside is massive increased intimidation and
abuse by u.s. marshalls, including extreme racist and gay
verbal assaults, threats of beatings, lack of sanitary and
food conditions/provisions, threats to move people into
general population, and more.
obviously, it doesn't need to be said, but this is a clear
extreme response to our jail solidarity tactics, which we
cannot back down. it also greatly demonstrates how the world
bank and the imf work in concert with military regimes and
depend upon humyn rights violations in order to perpetuate and
enforce their undemocratic, exploitative, and anti-earth
programs...
this has all been only the beginning, we've made a massive
step forward in our mobilization and cannot be freightened off
--- they have witnessed the power of the people and they are
scared!
forward on!
marc (rts)
******************************************
From ACT-UP
As individuals working on the Midnight Special Law Collective,
the legal team representing the protestors arrested during the
A16 action in Washington D.C., we are concerned about the
mistreatment of protestors in the jail system by U.S.
Marshals, specifically treatment of a homophobic nature.
There needs to be a level of responsibility among U.S.
citizens to take action to hold those responsible for this
treatment accountable--namely police, marshals, judges, and
city officials. We need to especially hold the Chief of
Police accountable for his denial of the unlawful acts
committed against the protestors by police. The process of
holding some of these people responsible for their actions is
made difficult by the unlawful removal of their badge
identification during arrests and the detaining of arrestees
in the jail.
The levels of abuse committed against the protestors ranges
from police brutality, homophobic comments, and rape threats,
as well as sexual harassment, physical abuse, and verbal
threats. Judges have also been blatantly lying to defendants
in court about the details of their situation and threatening
them with false consequences for maintaining their jail
solidarity.
The following are some specific examples of the brutality
going on in jail against the protestors being held.
A cell of thirty men were taken to the basement of their
facility, put into a cage, and surrounded by U.S. Marshals who
yelled threatening comments to them, such as: "There are no
video cameras down here, we can do what we want." "We don't
want to hear about any more of this solidarity bullshit." They
were threatened to be put into general population, saying that
"they love to kill fuckin white boys in there, you pussy
faggot protestors." When any of the men looked up at the
Marshall yelling at them, they were punched in the face and
told not to make eye contact. Some of the men were put into
strangle holds until they turned blue.
This incident greatly affected the morale of the group, and
all but one of the men in this cell broke solidarity and gave
their names in order to be released from jail.
We received three separate phone reports of this incident the
morning of their release, and none of these men were willing
to give their name or phone numbers over the phone to be
contacted, out of fear of retaliation. Hence, this incident
isn't making it into the mainstream media's reporting of the
police conduct.
Another incident involves a transgendered woman going by the
name of Lisa who was in a cell of thirty women. When the
police learned of her transgender identity, they separated her
from the others and put her into solitary confinement. The
police assured the other women that she was safe, but we have
no way of knowing how she is being treated or what is
happening to her.
Some women protestors are being stripped searched by male
officers, being asked to drop their pants and cough, being
patted down by male officers, being tied down and their
breasts being grabbed by male officers, and shackled at their
waist and ankles. The officers made lewd comments to the
women about their sexual orientation. Medical attention has
been denied in regards to hypothermia conditions by protestors
in wet clothes, as well as regarding dehydration. Food and
water was denied to protestors the entire first day of their
stay in jail. One hypoglycemic woman was throwing up
violently all day as a result. We have report from one woman
still in jail that they were arrested at 3pm on Monday, were
put in a cold cell with their wet clothes on without blankets
or anything to sleep on until 7am the next morning, and were
not given food and water until Noon the next day. When we
spoke to her at 6pm that evening, none of the women in her
cell had slept since 4am the morning of their arrest (Monday).
Legal access was denied to the arrestees, they were kept
separate from each other so that they couldn't organize their
solidarity and take care of each other, and were met with
police claiming to be their legal council who told them false
reports of the consequences of their refusal to give their
names.
One judge who saw arrestees three to eight at a time who were
being processed for their arraignment blatantly and
consistently lied to each group of defendants about their
situation, claiming that "everyone who got arrested has
decided that their message was heard in the street and that
there was no reason to stay in jail, and so all but about
twenty people have given their names and left the jail. Since
you are the only ones left here, you might as well do what
everyone else has done." This was being said at a time when
over 200 people had already proven their solidarity by
refusing to give their names in court. Our legal team sat in
the courtroom and watched this judge lie to groups of
defendants without being allowed to say anything in the
courtroom to warn them or correct her comments. They finally
managed to get a note to those defendants waiting arraignment
processing warning them of this judge's tactics. This is a
blatant disregard of people's due process rights.
============================================================================
Richard K Moore
Wexford, Ireland
Citizens for a Democratic Renaissance
email: •••@••.•••
CDR website: http://cyberjournal.org
cyberjournal archive: http://members.xoom.com/centrexnews/
book in progress: http://cyberjournal.org/cdr/gri.html
A community will evolve only when
the people control their means of communication.
-- Frantz Fanon
Capitalism is not the same as free
enterprise - it is a very specialized
ideology which holds the accumulation
of wealth as the only economic value,
and which demands that such economics
dominate all other societal values.
-- rkm
Permission for non-commercial republishing hereby granted - BUT
include and observe all restrictions, copyrights, credits,
and notices - including this one.
============================================================================
.
