Protesters march in capital for Palestinians
WASHINGTON (AP) – After reciting a pledge against vandalism, violence and even running or swearing, hundreds of protesters marched peacefully to the Capitol on Monday to oppose U.S. funding for the Colombian military. Four days of demonstrations in the nation’s capital wrapped up Monday evening with a large pro-Palestinian rally outside the annual convention of a powerful Jewish lobbying group.
Though the weekend’s protests were organized around the now-ended spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, a wide variety of causes was on display.
Police steeled for trouble each day, especially during Monday’s unauthorized demonstrations that organizers had said could produce disturbances. But all events were mostly peaceful.
Police officials credited protest leaders for urging nonviolence. A large law enforcement turnout also appeared to dampen any enthusiasm for confrontation.
Protesters gathered before dawn Monday near the Washington Monument to object to U.S. aid to the Colombian military in its anti-guerrilla war and to a U.S. Army school that trains Latin American soldiers, some of whom have gone on to commit human rights abuses.
“Our money is going to kill people and that terrifies me,” said Kristin Kumpf, 26, a St. Louis University student.
Led by an organizer with a bullhorn, demonstrators recited a nonviolence pledge before setting off on the 1.5-mile hike to the Capitol. As they walked, they were flanked by solid lines of police on motorcycles and horseback and in full riot gear.
Assistant Police Chief Terrance Gainer estimated there were about 1,000 protesters and about 700 police.
Police Chief Charles Ramsey said a quick pace and the early start contributed to city streets that were hardly more snarled than usual.
“People are being very peaceful and I appreciate it,” he said.
A few dozen activists kneeled, hands linked, to block two entrances to the Capitol grounds.
Eventually, Capitol Police pulled out plastic handcuffs and arrested 37 people for obstructing traffic. Ramsey thanked some of those who were arrested for being peaceful.
One minor scuffle occurred when police corralled a large group into a Capitol Hill park, producing some shoving and flared tensions. But there were no arrests there and the crowd soon proceeded to an approved celebratory rally in another park across the street.
Later, across town, several hundred people opposed to U.S. military aid to Israel assembled in the street outside a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
A large number of police guarded separate cordoned-off areas for pro-Palestinian groups and an expected pro-Israel counter-demonstration, which never happened. A mile-long portion of one of the city’s major thoroughfares was closed for several hours to accommodate them.
Some of the pro-Palestinian protesters were unnerved by the arrival of dozens of police in riot gear, but police chief Ramsey said their dress was the result of a misunderstanding and the officers were sent away and told to return in regular uniforms.
Dozens of protesters from the anarchist Black Flag group carried several sections of a chain-link fence onto the street and massed behind it, attracting many of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
Police massed on the other side of the fence to keep protesters from pushing down a residential street. The standoff remained peaceful, with Ramsey at one point joking to the protesters, “Next time, we’ll let you make our fences for us.”
The Palestinian supporters beat drums and chanted “free, free Palestine” and “Israel out of Palestine.”
They circled around a black coffin, led by young men wearing tee-shirts emblazoned with the word “jihad” and with pictures of rifles.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher defended the administration’s Latin American and Mideast policies that were the subject of the protests.
“We’ll continue to look carefully at the needs of the people of the world and do what we think we can to help their development,” he said.