Protesters failed to prevent International Monitary Fund and World Bank delegates from meeting Monday, but their marches and rallies through Washington forced a lockdown of much of the business district, which includes a number of federal offices.
The home of agencies including the Treasury Department, the General Services Administration and the Office of Personnel Management became instead home to police clashes with demonstrators resulting in at least 90 arrests and use of pepper spray.
At the request of law enforcement, OPM on Sunday night allowed federal employees who work within a zone restricted by police to take the day off from work. Offices in other sections of Washington operated under a liberal leave policy.
In one confrontation, rain-drenched demonstrators marching from the Ellipse faced off with D.C. Metropolitan Police dressed in riot gear at the intersection of 20th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.-where police discharged pepper spray to disperse the crowd when several protesters tried to storm a barricade.
"This is what a police state looks like," protesters chanted to the beat of makeshift bucket drums.
About 200 protesters-those who said they were willing to risk arrest-had sat down in front of barricades and prepared for tear gas by placing vinegar-soaked bandanas over their faces. Police brought in waves of reinforcements to maintain the line and were backed up by an armored car and National Guard troops. The tension eased early Monday afternoon when protesters, while remaining in the intersection, agreed to back off from a police line on 20th Street as officers removed their gas masks.
Police prepared for the protests by closing street traffic in Northwest D.C. from 23rd to 14th streets and from L Street to Constitution Avenue. Police barricades prevented almost all pedestrian traffic in an area that included the IMF, World Bank and the White House. Intermittent rain and a heavy police presence generally kept crowds in check, but small incidents resulted in various arrests, including about 30 or 40 protesters arrested at 17th and M streets and others at 18th and K streets.
Earlier, approximately 2,000 marchers collected at the Ellipse near the White House and peacefully marched up 14th Street against the traffic. The protesters had no planned route, but by consensus decided to march west on I Street until they congregated at a large intersection on Pennsylvania Avenue. Demonstrators carried handmade puppets and placards declaring, "Structurally Adjust This!" and "Spank the Bank," while shouting a protest chant: "IMF, you can't hide! We charge you with genocide."
Police did not mix with the crowd, but maintained their blockades at intersections while about two dozen officers on motorcycles followed the march on side streets to plug holes where needed.
A World Bank spokeswoman, interviewed by a local television station, said the institution's meetings were being held as scheduled. Monday, Treasury Secretary Summers, speaking to finance ministers, pushed the administration's reform agenda for the IMF and World Bank.
"The bank has made progress ... but we believe more needs to be done and will be pressing this agenda," the Associated Press quoted Summers as saying. A World Bank spokeswoman said "consultation meetings" have been held with protest representatives over the past week.