Using protesters’ threats to shut down the city as justification, the Metropolitan Police Department used questionable tactics and reasoning in arresting nearly 650 protesters, onlookers and reporters near Freedom Plaza on Friday.
While MPD can be credited for a relatively peaceful protest, a smooth IMF/World Bank meeting and keeping D.C. open despite protester threats, officers’ tactics pushed the limits of the Constitution. Civil rights activists and protesters alike are threatening lawsuits over unlawful arrests – and they have sufficient cause to do so.
Freedom Plaza, ironically, became anything but “free” as police surrounded the area and arrested everyone in the vicinity. MPD officials said they ordered the demonstrators to disperse because the protesters were blocking a White House evacuation route. Even though they were arrested for “failing to obey police orders,” individuals arrested said they did not hear any MPD order. Police surrounded the plaza without giving demonstrators or bystanders a chance to leave and arrested reporters who had no part in the protests and were only reporting on the demonstrations.
MPD has discretion when handling protests and used bad judgement by arresting protesters. If their goal was a peaceful protest and dispersal of the demonstrators, than they could have at least publicly announced that the crowds in Freedom Plaza should leave or face arrest. Most of the violent protesters (the few that threw rocks through windows) were arrested earlier in the day. Those gathering in Freedom Plaza were peacefully expressing themselves.
At future protests, police officers should give clear orders and make their goals peace and dispersal instead of mass arrest. They should be interested in protecting those peacefully expressing their constitutional rights, while taking action against those posing a serious threat.
Police also detained demonstrators much longer than necessary. MPD held many from Freedom Plaza for more than 24 hours with minimal provisions and information about cause of arrest, including six Washington Post reporters and photographers and three Hatchet photographers.
MPD’s actions were based on the fear of violence like that of the April 2000 IMF/World Bank protests, which created chaos citywide. However, MPD overreacted, squashing protests not even nearing the caliber of the a16 protests and possibly violating First Amendment rights. If a group cannot peacefully protest in the nation’s capital without fear of arrest, where can they express their Constitutional rights?
