Protests - Part 89

IMF Protest, Prague 2000

In September, 2000, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) met in Prague.  The IMF is an agency of the United Nations.  It acts as a lender of last resort, lending money to member nations having a balance of payments crisis.

The 2000 meeting drew a crowd of 400 activists, criticizing IMF for the harsh requirements it makes when it lends money to poor countries.

Above, the crowd of protesters saying "Balls to the IMF".

One of the protesters got naked.  He was from Switzerland and identified himself as Rafael.  We see him here by the line of police.

"This is a battle for equal justice worldwide," said Rafael.  His painted message says "Fuck you new feudalism."

Here is Rafael with another protester.  Eventually the protest turned to violence, with the protesters throwing paving stones and Molotov cocktails at the police, who responded with tear gas and a water cannon.

Note Rafael's imaginative decor criticizing capitalism: a dollar bill stuffed in each ear, and another dollar bill pierced by his penis.