Washington A16, 2000 was a series of protests in Washington, D.C. against the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

and the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

, that occurred in April 2000. The annual IMF and World Bank meetings were the scene for follow-on protests of the 1999 WTO protests. In April 2000, between 10,000 and 15,000 protesters demonstrated at the IMF, and World Bank meeting (official numbers are not tallied).

Planning

The International Forum on Globalization held non-violent

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". H ...

training at

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. The Convergence Center at 1328 Florida Avenue was an activists’ meeting hall where the nonviolence training and prop making occurred (such as signs and puppets). The protests were planned for April 16 and 17, concurrent dates as the planned meetings between the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Many of the protesters wanted to see accountability put in place for the globalization process. The

United Steelworkers of America The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headquar ...

president George Becker was a participant at the protest, alongside environmental activists Julia Butterfly Hill and Mike Roselle.

April 15, 2000

On April 15 the Washington D.C. Police preemptively raided (without a search warrant) the Convergence Center, citing fire safety. This police action was cited as an 'unconstitutional raid' during the subsequent class action lawsuit. The day before the larger protest scheduled on April 16, a smaller group of protesters demonstration against the Prison-Industrial Complex in the District of Columbia. Mass arrests were conducted; 678 people were arrested, including bystanders, journalists and tourists when the police did a sweep of the block. Majority of the arrests on April 15 occurred at 20th Street NW between I and K streets. Three-time

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winning,

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

photographer Carol Guzy was detained by police and arrested on April 15, and two journalists for the

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also reported being struck by police with batons. These arrests on April 15 were accused of being false and later spurred a class action lawsuit called Becker, et al. v. District of Columbia, et al.''.'.

April 16, 2000

On April 16 and 17 the demonstrations and street actions around the IMF that followed, the number of those arrested grew to 1,300 people. Between April 15 and April 16th, more than 600 people had been arrested.

Lawsuits

In June 2010, the

class-action lawsuit A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

for the April 15th events called ''Becker, et al. v. District of Columbia, et al'' were settled, with $13.7 million damages awarded. Other, similar lawsuits have stemmed from mass arrests in the District of Columbia in recent years. In 2009, the city agreed to pay $8.25 million to almost 400 protesters and bystanders to end a class-action lawsuit over mass arrests in

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during 2002 World Bank protests, according to the

Partnership for Civil Justice Fund The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) is a nonprofit Progressivism in the United States, progressive legal organization based in Washington, D.C. Founded by Carl Messineo and Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, the organization focuses on cases regard ...

, which also represented those plaintiffs.

References

External links

"Beyond Seattle ~ Focus on the International Monetary Fund & the World Bank teachin", ''International Forum on Globalization''
* ttp://www.wesleyan.edu/hermes/prev/may00/12A.htm "A 16 and Beyond", ''Hermes'', May 2000, Adam Hurterbr>"Labor meets the granola crunchers"
interview with

United Steelworkers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headquar ...