In today's Prague, there's more of a feeling of a velvet glove covering an iron fist. The Czech Republic rolled out the red carpet for the nearly 20,000 bankers and bureaucrats attending the joint summit of the IMF and World Bank. And to protect them from protesters who disagree with them, authorities unleashed a campaign of fear and intimidation. Prague has been cleared out. Residents were encouraged to leave town.
Schools are closed.
Shops are shut down and boarded up. An estimated 11,000 police have been mobilized. But in a totalitarian situation, it's really about spending years of your life in jail. That's cold comfort to the anti-IMF and World Bank protesters. As Socialist Worker went to press, the stage had been set for a police attack on protesters at the main demonstration September 26.