Thousands of enviros and other demonstrators hit the streets of Washington, D.C., this weekend to protest corporate globalization, hoping to build on the momentum of last year’s demonstrations in Seattle against the World Trade Organization. They have been thwarted in their efforts to shut down meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank by police in full riot gear who have been using pepper spray, smoke canisters, and nightsticks. Even before the big demonstrations began, police shut down the protestors’ headquarters on Saturday, closed off a large area downtown, and arrested some 600 peaceful demonstrators. Many enviros denounce the World Bank’s financing of oil, gas, mining, and other destructive projects, including a 650-mile-long oil pipeline project in Chad and Cameroon and a development project on the fringes of Tibet.
