D.C. Statehood Dragon Burns
The green dragon which caught fire during of the United for Peace and Justice march at the Republican National Convention Sunday represented D.C. statehood, and was constructed and operated by District activists.
The dragon float which burned outside Madison Square Garden was constructed and operated by District activist and current D.C. Statehood Green Party candidate for shadow representative Adam Eidinger.
The web-saavy Eidinger has posted a variety of materials about the incident on his website, including a statement expressing his saddness about "the unfortunate destruction of the paper maché "Dragon of Self-Determination," which was made by scores of DC residents." Adding "Before its untimely demise, thousands of demonstrators from across the nation marched with the dragon, which stood for DC Statehood and the rejection of the Bush agenda." He has also posted a video of C-SPAN's coverage of the incident, and a NBC4 story about the dragon from last week.
The above photo depicts marchers dashing by the dragon before police re-routed the march around the fire.
The whole incident was descibed in this account from the Weekly Standard:
" ... But as we edge closer to Madison Square Garden, in order to fly our middle finger at the Man, the mood blackens and everyone seems overcome with the nervous twitchiness one feels when too many high-strung people with bad intentions are operating in tight quarters. As Adam stops with the good-times tunes, and starts playing mixed-tape hardcore punk thrust at him by someone in the crowd, a menacing bloc of anarchists inch up on our left flank, holding cardboard shields shoulder-to-shoulder to make a wall, while others mask-up with bandannas and still others hold umbrellas to shield from police surveillance.As the dragon stops in front of the Garden, Adam and his team cite technical difficulties, break down their equipment faster than a Jeff Gordon pit crew, and start walking away briskly. With a wife and a five-month-old daughter, and a case still on appeal from the last convention, Adam says, "I can't be around for whatever happens," by way of apology. The people's dragon is about to be commandeered by the anarchists, whose idea of a cheeky slogans is "F- Your War." And Adam wants no part of it.
I take off after him, but don't want to miss the scene. When I double back, however, the dragon has already turned into bonfire cinders in what looks to be an anarchist marshmallow roast right on the Republican convention's doorstep. The riot police are slow to react, but when the taunting anarchists themselves seem slow to vacate the protest route, bowed-armed bulls with Irish and Italian surnames start charging the little twits, dropping them like middle linebackers laying waste in the open field.
D.C. blogger Julian Sanchez also reports about Eidinger's dragon in this post from the convention blog of Reason magazine.
In related news, the Common Denominator has posted a voting guide for D.C. voters planning on voting in the September 14th Democratic, Republican, and D.C. Statehood Green Party primaries, and see DCist on where to vote, and the latest on the primary races.