One of the largest anti-globalization protests in Europe, it disrupted an IMF and World Bank summit and advanced new activist tactics.
Key Facts
- Demonstrators involved
- ~12,000
- People detained
- over 900
- Police injured
- 64
- Demonstrators injured
- 20
- Summit targeted
- IMF and World Bank summit
- Date of summit
- September 27, 2000
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Growing opposition to the IMF and World Bank's market-oriented policies, which critics argued worsened economic conditions in developing nations, fueled a transnational activist movement that had already staged major protests in Seattle and Washington, DC before targeting Prague.
On September 27, 2000, approximately 12,000 protesters from around the world descended on Prague to disrupt the IMF and World Bank summit. Demonstrators blocked access roads, erected barricades, and clashed with police using Molotov cocktails and cobblestones, while police responded with tear gas and water cannons.
Protesters succeeded in cutting short the final day of the summit. The events also saw the debut of the 'pink bloc' and 'white overall' tactics pioneered by Italian group Ya Basta!, and produced a wave of video activist documentaries, cementing Prague as a milestone in the global anti-capitalist movement.