This evening, around 6:45 pm, DC Metro bicycle police arrested 40 critical mass bike ride activists, who had been part of the "Bike to Fight State Terror." The ride had started at 5 pm at Upper Senate Park (Constitution and New Jersey Avenues) at the rally to shut down the SOA . Police arrested the 39 adults and one juvenile at 21st and L streets, NW. They are being charged with misdemeanor "failure to obey a lawful police order;" a police spokesman added "...so far." However, activists who were part of the Critical Mass bike ride said that they had heard no such order. Activists participating in the bike action said that police officers on foot, jumping out of vans, and on bicycles, had knocked bikers off of their bicycles. One young man wearing a khafya across his face showed me scratches on his arms from an incident with police. Activists who had taken part in the bike ride who were not arrested stated that there was no resistance to police. Police officers denied seeing any police violence.
Organizers said they were riding to protest the Israeli occupation in the West Bank; to call for disbanding an Army school in Georgia that they say is a training ground for Latin American military oppressors; and to challenge U.S. policy that they say is governed by oil interests.
Police officer T. W. Warner said that the bike ride had started out in an orderly fashion but that the bikers then started to disobey traffic laws, and refused to obey police orders; Warner said that bike riders' legal violations included blocking traffic (riding in the street), riding their bicycles on the sidewalk in a downtown area (not riding on the street), running red lights, and going the wrong way down Rock Creek Parkway. When asked why the activists were arrested on 21st and L, rather than on Rock Creek Parkway, where they had allegedy disobeyed the "One Way" sign, the officer answered that this was the first place that the officers were able to bring the bikers to a stop, and added, "They were violating a lot of laws." When a reporter commented that police officers had also been riding bicycles on the sidewalk and going the wrong way, the police spokesman said, "Well, just because they were doing something illegal..." and trailed off. The activists have been taken for processing to the Institute for Police Science, a police officer training center, on 4600 Overlook Ave SW, near Blue Plains. CDU 44 and CDU 43 will be handling the processing.
Activists complained about difficulty coordinating assistance with the legal team. Police were unable to say whether any medics had been arrested with the bikers.
Their bikes have been sequestered and loaded onto a police van. The officers were unclear as to what would happen to the bikes. One said, "I'm thinking these bikes will be taken as evidence." Another said that they would be returned to the bikers if the bikers could provide proof of registration of the bicycle or a detailed physical description of the bike. However, he added, "We're going to be in a bit of a bind to do anything with those bicycles until Tuesday," which could pose a problem for activists who have come in from out of town. When questioned about the cost of sequestering and processing all of those bicycles, the officer quipped, "The cost of freedom isn't cheap." When a reporter pressed, "The cost of freedom is taking them to jail and locking up their bikes?" The officer answered, "That's freedom for all these other people who are trying to get home!" Apparently freedom = orderly streets.
Critical Mass is a loose collective of activist who bike around urban areas en masse to draw visibility to issues ranging from specific environmental policies to sweatshop labor. Their use of bicycles represents a choice to live in a cleaner environment free of pollution caused by copious car usage.
One eyewitness called from within a police wagon, on his cell phone, to describe what happened from his perspective. His call was carried live on the DC Audio team's streaming radio coverage. He described what seemed to be an "ambush" where the police suddened appeared, surrounding riders and forced them off their bikes. They were not spoken to, other than instructions on where to move and what to do, not told why they were being arrested or what the police objective was.
Another caller detained in a vehicle reported 4 or 5 paddy wagons in the Institute of Police Science parking lot. He estimated each wagon had a 10 prisoner capacity. All of those detained in the vehicles were left in the lot, "baking", without water and without processing for a long time.
