Police, Protesters, Clash at IMF Meeting

Sept. 26 -- There was blood on the streets of Prague today as police, enraged by gasoline bomb attacks that set their uniforms on fire, hit back with no holds barred.

Demonstrators gathered for the opening of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund were caught in increasingly violent clashes with the Czech police.

The demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails and rocks they had made by tearing up a sidewalk — and later some of them began building a huge barricade on a street.

Earlier, demonstrators hurled stones at a McDonald’s outlet that had been closed, cracking the glass door and breaking in to destroy the furniture.

The scene was reminiscent of the so-called ‘Battle in Seattle,’ where violent demonstrators halted a meeting by the World Trade Organization, the first in a spate of disruptions at meetings of international financial organizations.

Police spokeswoman Iva Knolova said at least 40 people were injured, including 30 police officers and 10 protesters.

Many were hurt by projectiles, and emergency services also treated burns from the gasoline bombs. A British journalist was also hurt.

There were no reliable estimates of the number of demonstrators arrested, but correspondents in the city saw dozens detained.

Ambulance sirens howled through largely deserted streets in the Czech capital, taking the injured to hospitals. Clouds of white tear-gas drifted above and among the protesters.

Hard-Core Anarchy

Police tried to force the rioters back with water cannon, tear gas, dogs, thunderflashes and even threw cobblestones as they were at times overwhelmed by hundreds of masked youths shouting anti-globalist slogans.

The worst threat to those at the conference occurred when protesters stormed a hotel just across the road from the congress center. They pelted financiers and journalists with stones until police pushed them back with dogs and truncheons.

Officials said one Russian and one Japanese delegate were hurt.