
Not even a menu boasting a broad, complimentary list of hamburger toppings could keep the Five Guys outpost near the McPherson Square Metrorail station free from the sights of Occupy D.C. last night.
While walking past the burger joint, I couldn’t help but notice the row of Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Secret Service vehicles lined up in front of 1400 K Street NW. A law-enforcement dinner over hamburgers and tasty cajun fries? Hardly.
The responding officers appeared to have detained a small handful of protesters, one of whom was toting a Guy Fawkes mask sometimes donned by members of the Occupy movement or the hacking group Anonymous. (What Five Guys would have to be hacked isn’t entirely clear, though.) On a pillar outside the building, someone wrote in chalk “Occupy 4 ever + 1 day” along with the circled “A” anarchist symbol.
Considering its local roots—it started in Arlington—and spartan ethos, Five Guys hardly seems like the fast-food restaurant of the one percent. Perhaps we’ve just moved on to the #occupyhamburgers stage of the Occupy movement? If so, the frustration that some businesses around McPherson Square have expressed may only get louder in the coming weeks.
More likely is that a small off-shoot of the broader Occupy encampment was responsible—protesters often note that they embrace all comers and employ a variety of tactics, whether blocking traffic or building revolutionary barns.