PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Firsthand account of an IMC reporter's arrest in DC
by Andy Mulkerin Sunday, Sep. 29, 2002 at 8:21 PM
consciouscastaway@emayhem.com

This is a narrative about exactly what happened to me and other Pittsburghers on Friday.

On Friday morning (S27) at about 7:30 a group of about 60 Pittsburgh protestors with the Pittsburgh Organizing Group set out to block one intersection in protest of the World Bank and IMF. By the end of the day most of the Pittsburghers (including this IMC reporter) were being detained by DC Metro Police on a charge of "failure to obey an order to disperse."

The day began when the protestors, who had been staying at a Presbyterian church in DC, left for the intersection of Fourth and Constitution and Pennsylvania, where they were to block traffic and make the anti-corporate globalization message heard. When they arrived, the activists went out into the seven-lane intersection and joined hands, shouting chants like "Whose streets? Our streets!" Two cars in one lane took advantage of a weak spot in the chain and pushed through, nearly injuring a small number of protestors. Many cars turned around, and about 3 minutes after the group had begun to block the intersection, a police car and several bicycle and motorcycle police arrived and told them to disperse. After being told that they would be arrested, realizing that the block was not as effective as they could make themselves elsewhere, the activists began walking down the street, blocking all traffic going West into the business district.The street march was successful in that the protestors were stopping traffic, and it continued for several blocks, at which point, realizing that the police were blocking the streets for them, the protestors moved onto sidewalks and chanted "the police are blocking the streets!" Many gave pamphlets to and exchanged greetings with passers by, many of whom were sympathetic, giving cheers and high-fives.

After having snaked around the city for about 15 minutes, the group had their first run-in with police. At the intersection of 12th and G, where other protestors had reportedly encountered police minutes before, the group, was cornered against a building by police in riot gear. They were held for about a minute, and several group members demanded to know if they were being detained. I asked the police why the group was being held, and what was going on, but none answered. The group was promptly set free without any reason for the encounter being given, but the group was split into two, and I continued on with about 25-30 protestors.

As this smaller group snaked along the sidewalks, more protestors from other groups met up and joined with them. When the group was up to about 40, they were again pushed against a wall by police, a few blocks from Pennsylvania Avenue. This time the police demanded to see identification, and physically removed many of the group's backpacks, including my own. Once again, when asked by the group if they were being detained, the police would not comment. They would not speak to me, other than to ask if I had identification. After many of the members' ID's were checked, the group was let go, again with no explanation. There were no consequences for those without ID.

After this, several groups met up by chance, including both Pittsburgh groups, and were tailed by police around a block at 14th and 15th Streets, between Pennsylvania Ave and F Street. Protestors then moved into Pershing Park/Freedom Plaza, accross the street from the Ronald Reagan Federal Building on Pennsylvania Ave. Most considered this to be a safe place, since it is legal to congregate in a park, as opposed to in the middle of the streets as they had been all morning. Many settled into the drum jam that had been scheduled for the park at that time.

Within 45 minutes to an hour, however, protestors who thought that the park was a safe space found that, safe or unsafe, it was the only place they could be. Police in full riot regalia, including about 20 on Pennsylvania Ave. on horses, had the protestors, and everyone else who happened to be in the park at the time, surrounded. No one but credentialed media were permitted to pass through the ranks.

The standoff continued for about an hour, the mood inside the perimeter still one of joyful, albeit nervous, celebration. Radical cheerleaders, including some from Pittsburgh, shared cheers and amused those who were trapped, and some of those who were doing the trapping.

As 11:00 am approached, however, rumors that the protestors were going to be let out in ones and twos had come and gone. The new rumors were that DC Chief of Police Charles Ramsey had told television news reporters that the situation at Freedom Plaza would be resolved with arrests. Several Metro buses that said "Special" on the side arrived, and Metro Police began calling for volunteers to be arrested.

Everyone in the park was then arrested, cuffed with plastic wrist restraints behind the back, and shipped off in the buses to the police academy center at Blue Plains. The estimated number sent off was about 650. No one knew what the charges were, and protestors sat in the buses, waiting for some definitive word, for several hours.

By about 4 pm it was announced to the busloads by some of the arresting officers that they would be charged with "failure to obey a lawful order to disperse," although no one in the park ever heard an order to disperse, and in fact the police line prevented any dispersal.

For several more hours, the protestors sat on the buses and waited as their peers were taken through the process. Many weren't off the buses until after 11:00 pm. Once protestors were processed (many were delayed because of reported computer problems at the center), they were taken to the gymnasium in the academy, where they were cuffed, right arm to left ankle, and left on foam mats. Many were ready to post the $50 bail and forfeit their right to trial, but some, including several Pittsburghers, refused to give their names. While some of those who had the money to post (and identification) were let go, the great majority were not called to do so.

At about 4:00 am Saturday morning (S28), a busload of protestors (myself included) were taken away from the academy, to the basement of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, where they were told they would be able to post and forfeit, then leave. Many of these were Pittsburghers.

Once the detainees were taken into the basement, however, they were placed in holding cells with a number of other protestors who had been bused to Blue Plains but then processed at the Superior Court. They were told that they would get a chance to post and forfeit, but that the bail was set at $100 rather than $50. About 50 men and a similar number of women were kept in the facility, unable to make any sort of contact with the outside world. The guards there said that they could not tell the detainees anything about when they could post-and-forfeit, and that their paperwork (which had been done at Blue Plains then brought to the SC) was being handled.

Several hours went by, and at about 7:00 the protestors at the SC were told that their chance to post and forfeit was expired, because court was in session and they would have to be arraigned. When told by the inmates that their paperwork had been processed the evening before at Blue Plains and that they had been told they would be able to post and forfeit at this facility, employees of the SC said that they were not aware of what went on the night before, and could not do anything about it.

One detainee, not one from the Blue Plains bus, had had several ribs broken Friday, and was having trouble breathing in the cell. Three times he and others asked for a medic to come, but no one came. Detainees (the men, and the women down the hall) began loudly chanting "we want a medic!" Soon a medic arrived, and the man was taken away in an ambulance.

Many of the protestors in the cells were John Does, and they discussed a strategy for jail solidarity while those who wanted only to post and forfeit discussed what their options would be at arraignment. Guards told all the detainees that they would not be allowed to talk to a lawyer while being housed at that facility.

Beginning with the John Does, at about 9:30 the groups began to be led away to the courthouse to await arraignment. The group that had been processed at Blue Plains remained.

At about 11:00 am they were told that, in order to expedite the process, the judge had decided to let those who wanted to post and forfeit do so even while court was in session. Many of the group did precisely that. Some were given the chance to make phone calls at this point.

At 2:30, the loose deadline set for the last of those needing to be arraigned to be at the courthouse, 8 remained in the DC cells, incuding five from Pittsburgh. They either did not want to post or couldn't get a hold of the $100 fee because when they had the chance to get the money they had only gotten $50. Unlike at Blue Plains, detainees here could not use a bank card to pay the fee. They were re-processed (after being told the processing the night before was not correct) and sent off to the courthouse to be held for arraignment.

After being strip-searched and manhandled by US marshals at the courthouse, the detainees were packed into cramped, hot holding cells. Over half of the inmates in my cell were from Pittsburgh.

Some in these cells were given bagels to eat, but some got no food at all. One detainee named Tom (not from Pittsburgh) was suffering from bronchitis, and threw up several times but despite requesting food was given nothing to eat.

One of the court-appointed lawyers told the group that there were three options going into arraignment:

1. Don't give your real name, and go back to jail.
2. Give your name and information, and set a court date to be tried for three charges: Failure to Obey, Incommoding (essentially, blocking a sidewalk), and one other that I can't recall right now (I wasn't allowed to have a pen in jail . . .). Be released on your own recognizance.
3. Give your name and information, agree to post the $100 bail within one month, forfeit
your right to trial and be released on your own recognizance.

As the hours drew on one of the lawyers told the detainees who were left that the judge was
tired of dealing with the police losing the court papers for so many detainees, and was
dismissing a lot of those up for arraignment.

At about 8:00 the 40 or so men left who gave their names were released without papers or
charges, and a similar number of women did the same. John Does and Jane Does (who numbered

more than the John Does) remained incarcerated.

Members of the legal collective took names of those being released without papers with the intention of filing a class action lawsuit against the Metro Police for the unlawful arrests.

www.indypgh.org

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