WASHINGTON — Washington's police chief said his officers had lobbed a tear gas grenade at protesters by mistake Monday when they tried to surround delegates trying to get to a meeting of financial leaders here.
Police chief Charles Ramsey said the incident occurred when delegates coming to the World Bank meeting in central Washington were surrounded by around 200 protesters, who accuse the global lender of hurting the countries it is trying to help.
"The officer got out, thought he was throwing a smoke grenade to break up the crowd and it actually was tear gas," Ramsey told reporters.
"It did disperse the crowd and the delegates were able to get in safely," he added.
Police have detained hundreds of anti-globalization protesters Monday and over the weekend but have mainly fired pepper spray and wielded batons to break up groups of them.
Washington Mayor Anthony Williams, who also confirmed the isolated use of tear gas Monday, denied accusations from protesters that the police used heavy handed tactics.
"We have not gone into this with the intent to use tear gas. We've gone into this with the intent to allow for peaceful protest and at the same time allow for the IMF and World Bank to exercise their right to assembly and conduct their meeting," he told CNN.
A Reuters reporter and two photographers saw police lob tear gas near the Treasury Department building during a skirmish with demonstrators Sunday.
Police said they were unaware of the incident and would investigate whether the gas was used as its deployment has to be authorized by senior officers.