Shouts of ‘Shame, Shame, Shame’
For a few tense moments at Vermont Avenue and K Street NW this morning, police surrounded a group of about 100 protesters, boxing them in in front of the plate glass windows of Citibank. There was a shattering sound as protesters broke a window at the bank. Some of the protesters tossed smoke bombs on the sidewalk, yelling, “Our streets! Our streets!”
Police supervisors shouted instructions to the baton-wielding officers, “Start the arrest process. Cuff ’em.” The officers began to lead protesters one by one into waiting Metrobuses. For the most part, they went quietly, the crowd behind yelling, “Shame, shame, shame.”
Alexander Berkman, 26, of Richmond, Va., watched from outside the protest group, wondering why the police were also shoving spectators and members of the media.
“The police are pushing reporters out of the way,” said Berkman, an organizer with the Richmond Coalition for a Living Wage. “One hit a person in the throat with his baton. These are people simply observing; they’re not here in any protest capacity.”
Just as quickly, it seemed, things calmed down as the arrests continued and the crowd of spectators grew. One protester and spectator on K Street got into a rather heated exchange.
“You think you’re the only person who works!” said the young male protester, wearing a knit cap and a bandana tied around his mouth.
“Peaceful demonstration is fine, but if people can’t get to their jobs, it’s disruptive,” said Shane Deithorn, 38, a construction superintendent from Mt. Airy, Md., who works across the street. “They should lock them all up.”
–Sue Anne Pressley, 8:42 a.m.
For starters, I didn’t hear any shouts of “Shame, Shame, Shame.” Must have been on the other side of the crowd. And, yes, the police were pushing reporters away, but that didn’t start until the smoke bombs started, which I give the police props for pushing us away on. Who the hell knew what that was. There were people choking and running, many thought it was tear gas, the police pushed everyone away to clear the area as well as give them room to maneuver so no one got hurt. Yea, police, boo, protesters.
55 arrested at Citibank site
Police have arrested 55 protesters and charged them with rioting after demonstrators smashed several windows at the Citibank offices at Vermont and K streets NW, D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey said this morning.
–David Fahrenthold, 8:04 a.m.
Damn right, arrest them. CitiBank borded up all of their windows AFTER this happened. Better late than never, I guess.
Windows smashed at Citibank
Several hundred protesters have moved to the intersection of Vermont and K streets NW where they smashed several windows at the Citibank offices at the intersection. Traffic is snarled in that part of the city. There are also reports of a smoke-bomb type device being tossed at police, who have made some arrests at the scene.
–Manny Fernandez, 7:57 a.m.
Snarled traffic? Well, I wasn’t there until 8:10 and there was NO traffic. Police did a great job redirecting folks. Smoke bombs were there, they sucked, but were pretty damn stupid on the protesters’ part. I mean, Christ, people, what the hell are you doing throwing things that smoke at police? Might as well star shooting cap guns at them. Sigh.