Restaurant-goers pressed their faces to the windows and civilians lined the streets in a deluge of rain to observe several hundred protestors turning onto Wisconsin Avenue last Friday night.
“People were screaming to the sky,” participant Alex Denny (MSB ’09) said. “There was a good mix of nervous energy and straight-up anxiety.”
The protest was organized by the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, who have mobilized annually since 1996. Protesters targeted Georgetown as part of their larger protest of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, saying that the neighborhood “embodies neoliberalism.”
Protest organizers would not promise that the event would be completely peaceful, and violent incidents did occur. A young woman was hit with a brick outside of Abercrombie & Fitch on Wisconsin Avenue. Two protestors were arrested after a police officer was pushed from his scooter, and trash cans and newspaper boxes were overturned. However, D.C. Police 2nd District Commander Andy Solberg felt that the police presence in the area kept the violence to a minimum.
“I think the whole thing went off without too many problems,” Solberg said. “There was very little violence, except unfortunately the woman who was hit with a brick.”
Solberg was unable to comment on the amount of financial damage accrued from the protest.
Basav Sen, a local activist and member of the Coalition’s media relations committee, said that the group had started planning for this year’s protest, which also included a rally in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office and a large event at Franklin Park, in early May.
“Our goal was to highlight the role of these institutions and get coverage in the media,” Sen said of the protest.
Although the protest was unregistered, the event had gained publicity beforehand and caused enough alarm for the police to bring in extra forces for the night.Both the Metropolitan police department and M Street storeowners were well-prepared for the protest. Many businesses closed early and some, including J. Crew and the Body Shop, boarded up their windows to prevent any possible damage.
“There was a hilariously big police presence,” Denny said. “They had riot gear and police mounted on horses.”
Ed Solomon, chair of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, said that the police handled the event well.
“They have a right to express their views as long as its done in a peaceful way, but the one incidence of violence was one too many,” Solomon said.
ANC Commissioner Bill Starrels said the community did a “superb job” at keeping damage to a minimum.
“Hopefully in the future the protestors will not feel the need for disruption or destruction of property,” Starrels said.
Sen said that last weekend’s events were the largest that the Coalition has planned yet, but hopes that other groups may have been inspired to pick up the cause as well.
“We made a concerted effort to link to local issues here as well, like gentrification and privatization and homelessness,” he said. “There may be other protests coming up planned by other organizations, which we would like to play an active role in.”
-Additional reporting by Will Sommer
