The Protector

PROLOGUE. State of Emergency
1

RIOT POLICE DISPEL PROTESTORS

St. Louis, Missouri, April 14 (AP)-What officials feared would be a third day of rioting ended this morning when two thousand armor-clad policemen used batons, pepper spray, and tear gas to dispel ten thousand protestors. The riots disrupting the World Trade Organization conference here had turned downtown St. Louis into what amounted to a war zone, with damage from fires and vandalism estimated at $15 million.

The protestors claim that WTO ignores environmental and labor abuses in undeveloped countries. Although similar demonstrations in Seattle four years earlier had alerted St. Louis authorities about what to expect, police still found themselves overwhelmed. "We prepared for six months," Police Chief Edward Gaines said at a press conference. "But these anarchists are even more organized than they were in Seattle. Thank God, we finally wore them down."