Interviews in DC

The Indy interviewed two protestors from the first day (Friday) of the IMF and World Bank protests. While David Tessitor avoided arrest, Ryan Hamilton was arrested in what would later be deemed a "pre-emptive arrest" program, in which citizens guilty of no violations of law were arrested because they were assumed to be guilty of conspiring to protest the IMF and World Bank.

The goal behind the pre-emptive arrests was to detain as many activists as possible the first day of the weekend (whether they had done anything or not), so that they would not be able to demonstrate on Saturday or Sunday.

The D.C. Police Chief regarded these illegal pre-emptive arrests as a successful method of controlling the protestors, and limiting the impact of their non-violent protests.

On Friday, there were only a few thousand demonstrators, so it was much easier for the police to arrest from a much smaller group, as compared to the 15,000 who showed up on Saturday.

Interviewed by Nick Bervelier, Matt Reeder, and Anthony DiMaggio

Indy - Where are you from, and what is your job at home?

I traveled here from Pittsburgh. I'm the project director for the American Youth and Country Alliance.

Indy - So tell me more about this arrest, it happened in Freedom Plaza?

DT - Just two blocks away. This was a pre-emptive strike to get rid of the protestors before anything could happen. The police chief announced that this was a pre-emptive strike. They were anticipating that these people might cause problems later in the weekend. So to get them out of the way they went ahead and arrested them now, probably because they were unhappy with the policies enacted by the government (649 protestors were arrested).

Indy - I'm sure this has already broken out in the media.

DT - Well they originally detained the media as well. Well some of them, others got preferential treatment. They didn't actually end up taking the media in for processing later on. They got wise and let them off.

Indy - What kind of charge could they possibly hold on those that were arrested?

DT - There are no legal charges they could possibly hold most of them on. The only thing they could get them on is if some of them did a sit down.

Indy - Which just means that they were resisting arrest right?

DT - Yes. But if they didn't even resist arrest then there is absolutely nothing they can get them on. The only guy that got out with me was a photography student.

Indy - Did you hear where they were taking those arrested?

DT - They were taking them down to the Police Academy. This was not where they ordinarily take them for processing. This place was as far removed from everything as possible. You can't get there on transit, bike, or walking. It's very far. You have to drive to this area. It's in the southeast corner of D.C.

Indy - But the police force has just been outrageous here anyway.

DT - This happened this morning at about nine o'clock. That was when the action started. The police had everyone surrounded though for at least an hour or two.

Indy - Were they discriminating in their arrests?

DT - They arrested everyone in the vicinity. They didn't discriminate. Some people were demonstrating. But some were just sitting around talking. They didn't have anything to do with the protest except the fact that they were around the area the protest was taking place. Just about anyone in the area was detained.

Indy - Where did you come from for this?

RH - I came from Pittsburgh.

Indy - What happened when you protested.

RH - Originally we tried to hold an intersection. We just didn't have enough people to hold it, though. People were just getting around one side. It was a civil disobedience act. We then started walking through the streets, through the traffic.

Indy - Where was this near?

RH - We started out by the National Mall. It was a big commercial area, we walked by four Starbucks.

Indy - How many people were blocking traffic.

RH - There were probably around 35. But you would need a couple hundred for this intersection. At this intersection the cops were waiting for us. But it wasn't like that in other intersections. I know at others the cops swooped down immediately. But at ours the cops let us hold traffic for ten to fifteen minutes. They then told us if we continued to stay there we would be arrested. They then herded us onto the sidewalks, and kept us there with there bikes. Then they split us up. The half that I was in was detained. They told everyone that if they presented I.D. they would be released as soon as possible. So the implication being if you didn't you would stay longer. That wasn't the case. It was just a way to get our names. They were also phrasing things to make it sound threatening if you didn't have I.D.

Indy - What happened during the arrests?

RH - Besides our arrests for blocking the intersection, everyone else was also arrested. There were some groups that were not involved. There were six nurses-in-training who just came over to see what was happening and got arrested. They were also doing this weird thing when they loaded people onto buses. They would come up to someone and ask if they would volunteer to be arrested. The way they phrased it was like we didn't have to be arrested. So when they asked me I said, I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, so I'm cool. I got thrown on the ground at that point. None of us were resisting arrest at all though.

Indy - Did you say no to arrest?

RH - They didn't elaborate on what volunteering meant. I was just thrown on the ground, I didn't get hurt. I didn't volunteer because that would seem like I wanted to be arrested. I just got thrown onto the ground. There was one person that asked the cop "why are you hitting me?" and he just got smashed in the head with a billyclub. One person was loaded onto the bus unconscious. He couldn't walk; his head was just dangling. They were holding him by arms and feet. Some people watching were looking at the police like they couldn't believe what they were doing to some of us. There were quite a few people who were just being roughed up.

Indy - Why were a lot of them beaten?

RH - Some people would just step onto the street and then would get hit. They also arbitrarily decided at one point to detain people for being on the sidewalk. My charge was actually for refusing to obey the order to abandon the sidewalk. This was an absolute lie. I was never told to vacate the sidewalk. In fact many were asking to leave and the police wouldn't let them. So many people kept asking if they could leave, and the cops would stare at them blankly. They gave no answer. And they didn't even make up my charge until after the three to four hours I had been sitting on the bus. They made it up at the station.

Indy - So let me get this all clear. First they originally wouldn't allow you to stay in the streets. They instead wanted you to move onto the sidewalk. Then they wouldn't let you leave. And they eventually charged you with refusing to leave the sidewalk, even though they didn't ask you to disperse, and wouldn't have let you leave anyway?

RH - Yeah. That's the condensed version of the story. Most people were confused. We didn't even think we were getting arrested from what we were told. But this was a peaceful protest. Most people were just sitting around [those not in the street blocking traffic], not even actively protesting. And we were being told that there were members of our group that were burning tires and tipping over cars, which was why they had to keep us on the sidewalk. I didn't see this anywhere near us. I saw no violence or indication of anything disruptive. It was very peaceful. The group I met up with was a pretty passive resistance group. Nothing much was happening from our side. People were playing drums and chanting.