The People's Strike - Sept 2002 - Personal Accounts
Account of Police Activities on September 27
by a local activist
As protesters succeeded in shutting down DC this past Friday, it's interesting to note that it was in no small part due to the hysteria whipped up by the DC police department. All day, one could hear sirens wailing giving an air of urgency and the impression that the protest was out of control. As usual, the truth was far from it. It sounded like a city under siege, but was really the police making every effort to frighten residents and workers from even thinking of joining the protest. As I was waiting to meet someone in the afternoon at the Wyndham on M Street & 15th, I watched two cop cruisers with sirens screaming and an empty Greyhound bus come through the circle and make their way down M towards 23rd (or thereabouts). The cops looked bored and amused, and I figured they were on their way to arrest protesters. This wasn't the case apparently, as during my wait I witnessed the exact same scenario (same cops, same bus driver) unfold twice more with approximately 10-15 minute intervals. It struck me that I had noticed the same thing during the day - empty buses and lots of sirens. My office was nowhere near the protest, yet these empty buses with their noisy escorts were constantly going by in the direction _away_ from the protests. Why were they using sirens? Why were they going by repeatedly?
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