Photo by ekelly80

On Wednesday evening, Occupy D.C. protesters marched to the Wilson Building, where they replaced a D.C. flag with an Occupy banner. The move didn’t sit well with some, and today in an email to DCist, the protesters apologized for the move.

It was impromptu and a statement of defiance given the nature of the march which was a solidarity march. All the occupy movements across the country marched on their city halls at the same time Oakland California did. As you know Oakland was the scene of a brutal crackdown using flash grenades rubber bullets and tear gas. Unacceptable in our nation given our bill of rights. Also, some thought it was fitting as dc is an occupied territory in many ways. Occupydc is a strong advocate of voting rights and colonization of the district.

That said there was much discussion of the removal of the dc flag upon return to McPherson square and many occupiers shared this concern. Expect a dc voting rights and equality march to take place soon and we hope that these folks who have expressed this grievance will join us. Dc is not represented and should be with a population larger than that of some states and this disenfranchisement is an often discussed and important issue to our movement. We apologize to all that were offended and please pass onto them their concerns are heard and we stand with the citizens of dc is solidarity against the institutional disenfranchisement of its population, among which most of us are included.

We assume that when Occupy says they are strong advocates of the “colonization of the district” they mean of ridding the District of its colonial status; a sign that looks much like a D.C. license plate and bearing the “Taxation Without Representation” slogan recently appeared at McPherson Square.