Prague Protests Turn Violent

Sept. 26, 2000 -- There was blood on the streets of Prague today as police, enraged by the petrol bomb attacks, which set 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 were caught in increasingly violent clashes with the Czech police.

Eyewitnesses said anti-capitalism protesters threw cobblestones, bottles and least three homemade “Molotov cocktails” at a police cordon some 300 yards from the conference center.

Several policemen were set alight and colleagues hosed them down with a water cannon. The official injury toll has topped 30.

Two Americans were among those injured, according to the BBC.

An official at the Czech interior ministry said, “Dozens were injured on both sides.” The official added that only “a few” of the injured had been taken to hospital.

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.

Police estimated 5,000 to 9,000 protesters had turned out for the opening of the three-day annual meetings.

Earlier, demonstrators threw stones at a McDonald’s outlet, cracking the glass door.

What the Protesters Want

The bulk of protesters had planned a peaceful sit-down and appealed for non-violence over loudspeakers, but Czech security officials said some are also believed to be from the hard-core anarchist scene.

The anarcho-group, often disguised by masks and helmets, is well known to most European police forces from soccer violence. They mainly come from Germany and Italy — with a small number from the United States and Britain.

Police sources said an Italian anarchist group “Ya Basta” appeared to be responsible for the worst incidents of violence. A train with 500 Italian demonstrators was held up at the Czech-Austria border Sunday, but was allowed to travel after a 17- hour delay after four identified “ringleaders” agreed to disembark.

The demonstrators say the Washington-based global lenders are ignoring the needs of the poor and making life worse for millions of people.

Insisting that the bank and the fund cancel debts to the world’s poorest nations, they say they are continuing the anti-globalization drive that disrupted trade talks in Seattlelast year and prompted violent protests in London in May.

“London, Seattle. Continue the battle,” chanted one group marching through Prague’s central Wenceslas Square, the scene of peaceful demonstrations which helped toppled Communism in 1989. “Stop the economic terror now” and “Capitalism kills. Kill capitalism,” other groups said. Some waved banners that proclaimed, “Make love not trade.”

What Protesters Plan to Do

The protesters are marching on Prague’s cavernous, glass-fronted Congress Center, which was built to host Communist Party gatherings in Cold War days.

Deviating from the strategy protesters employed in Seattle in December and Washington in April, the activists did not try to stop delegates from getting into the meetings.

Instead, they want to blockade delegates inside the building, refusing to let them leave until they agree to disband the bank and the fund, which were set up to rebuild the world economy after World War Two.

The face-off is likely to come when the conference participants try to leave the cordoned complex. But there were 11,000 police out, giving them more than a 2-1 numerical advantage.

Czech police appear likely to encircle the demonstrators, round them up, and send them back over the borders to Austria and Germany.

Police have closed a metro station adjoining the building and many delegates arrived before dawn, whisked into the center by bus or in official motorcades. Those foolhardy enough to try to reach the meeting on foot must trek to the other side of a bridge linking the congress center with downtown Prague and then face numerous police checks to reach their destination.

Czech security police think they will face running battles through the night with the anarchists, who have good cover in the old town’s narrow streets.

Prague mayor Jan Kasl has appealed for calm.

Delegates Sound Conciliatory

Inside the building, World Bank President James Wolfensohn and IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler promised to listen to the critics.

Wolfensohn conceded the IMF and World Bank had a “lot to learn” about improving their efforts to combat poverty and indicated the two giant multinational lending agencies, headquartered in Washington, were ready to listen.

“I believe that we can move forward only if we deal with each other constructively and with mutual respect,” Wolfensohn said.

Wolfensohn even said he shared the “passion” of the demonstrators.

“Outside these walls, young people are demonstrating against globalization,” he told delegates. “I believe deeply that many of them are asking legitimate questions, and I embrace the commitment of a new generation to fight poverty. I share their passion andtheir questioning.”

Monetary Leaders’ Own Options

Both Wolfensohn and IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler called for greater action to lift the living standards of the world’s poor, focusing on better education and health care.

Koehler urged rich countries to lower their trade barriers on exports of farm goods and other products from poor countries, saying this could mean $100 billion annually in extra sales by poor nations.

But Wolfensohn said that the processes tying the world more closely together economically cannot be stopped.

“We cannot turn globalization back. Our challenge is to make globalization an instrument of opportunity and inclusion — not of fear and insecurity,” Wolfensohn said.

The run-up to the meeting has been dominated by concern about the twin threats of costly oil and a fragile European currency and the risks they could pose to growth.

The G7, showing more teeth than it has for years, intervened to support the euro on Friday and said on Saturday that a weak euro could threaten the world economy. The group’s closing communique made clear that it was ready to intervene again todefend the currency if needed.

ABCNEWS’ Sue Masterman, London Bureau, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.