Police in Washington have arrested more than 500 people at anti-globalisation demonstrations against meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Up to 550 people have been taken into according to estimates from police who mounted a strong show of force in and around the partly barricaded downtown area throughout the day.
The demonstrators are targeting meetings of the Group of Seven industrialized nations today and of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank tomorrow.
One group of protesters met in a park early in the morning and marched for two blocks before being stopped by police in riot gear who penned the group into one city block and arrested everyone inside their perimeter.
Police shoved handcuffed protesters and loaded them onto city buses. In a midday sweep at Freedom Plaza, a grassy park not far from the White House, police filled about 10 buses with demonstrators.
Small bands of protesters popped up at various sites around the downtown area, keeping police speeding from place to place to face them.
In most cases, the groups of demonstrators, many of whom waved black flags and wore bandannas to cover their faces, were far outnumbered by police in riot gear on foot, motorcycles, bicycles or horseback.
