Photo by Benjamin Strahs.

Weed activists have been planning a demonstration at 5:20 p.m. in front of the White House today, and a shooting nearby this afternoon isn’t going to stop them from gathering, though it may change the level of civil disobedience the group plans to engage in.

“There’s still going to be a demonstration with a speak-out at 5:20,” says Adam Eidinger, a co-founder of local activist group DCMJ. While the group had a meeting at the White House, no one from the Obama administration has responded to a request to return and speak with a higher-level official. So the group was planning on a die-in, which Eidinger explained last week as “lying down in front of the White House.” Blocking the driveways could result in arrests, which “could be good for the movement.”

Now, though, Eidinger isn’t so sure they’re going to get Secret Service to arrest them. “It’s clear now that Secret Service has had a very long day,” he says. “We don’t want to make it any rougher for them. Our problem is with the policy, not with them. It can be very stressful on them to arrest people.”

But he says that others in the group are inclined to go forward with the die-in, so it’ll be a game time decision.

In early April, a smoke-in at the White House had hundreds of participants but no arrests (though a few citations).

Filed Under: dcmj, initiative 71, protest, white house,