An overwhelming police presence and dreary
weather contributed to a placid day of
protests Sunday in downtown Washington, but
police said they were braced for the final day of
planned demonstrations Monday.
While Saturday's demonstrations were dominated
against U.S. aid to Israel, Sunday's
marchers focused on global economic issues,
calling for the cancelation of Third World debt
and a change in U.S. foreign policy that they
charged is motivated by corporate greed.
With hundreds of officers encircling protesters
and permitting no breach of police lines,
District Police Chief Charles Ramsey said police
did not let the demonstrators provoke them.
Police said there had been no arrests by the
time the protest ended in late afternoon. The only
confrontation came when one protester burned
an American flag near three men who had come
with their own flags to counter-protest and sang
the national anthem. Earlier, several marchers lay
down in the street before a police car, but its driver
put the squad car in reverse and left.
