Results tagged “protest”

City workers on Friday collected and removed what remained of the 22 "ghost bikes" that had been placed around Connecticut and R Streets, the Post is reporting, including the locked-up bike that was put in the spot where the original memorial to Alice Swanson was located. Activist Legba Carrefour, the Columbia Heights resident behind the bikes, had pledged to ensure that the single memorial bike was replaced each time the city removed it, and he says he plans to keep his word. It just might take him a couple days.

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire reported last night that Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) has fired off a letter to WMATA General Manager John Catoe complaining that the transit agency did not adequately prepare for last Saturday's 9/12 Tea Party protests, in some cases leaving participants stranded. The Post also has the story.

Head over to why.i.hate.dc for a photo and update on the 22 ghost bikes that were placed all around the intersection of Connecticut and R NW a week ago. Looks like someone decided to let activist Legba Carrefour know they aren't fond of his bikes.

All of the remaining ghost bikes near Connecticut and R have been piled up at two locations, outside of the Cosi and at the site of the original ghost bike. It's a mess, and the pile near the Cosi is blocking the crosswalk. It appears as though some of the bikes that had been locked are in the pile or missing, as well. It's unclear who may have done this, but I would imagine DPW will be removing the bikes very soon given the state of the street. I urge Legba Carrefour or the Washington Area Bicyclist Association to clean this up as soon as possible. This is no longer a tribute to Alice Swanson or bicycle safety.

So, you decided to take a nice leisurely stroll around the National Mall today, eh? You probably ran into a sizable contingent of tea party protesters. The AP and WTOP are reporting that somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 people made their way towards the Mall, completely obstructing Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 14th Street and the Capitol building along the way.

The D.C. Department of Public Works finally got back to us on our question about what will be done with the 22 brand new ghost bikes that have been placed around the intersection of Connecticut and R Streets NW by activist Legba Carrefour ... kinda. Here's the boilerplate statement we received via email from DPW spokesperson Linda Grant:

"... the DC Department of Public Works is responsible for removing sidewalk memorials, which usually recognize residents who have died unexpectedly, and includes anything from flowers and stuffed animals to empty bottles of alcohol and bicycles. After 30 days, DPW removes all memorial items found at the site. As part of our policy, a sign is posted at the memorial to notify family and friends that they have 30 days to remove any personal effects."

       

Early this morning, 22 new ghost bikes appeared around the intersection of Connecticut Avenue, R and 20th Streets NW. There were put there by Columbia Heights resident Legba Carrefour, in an effort to protest the city's recent removal of the Alice Swanson ghost bike by the city. Alice's original ghost bike was placed in front of the La Tomate restaurant by the Washington Area Bicycle Association shortly after her death a little over a year ago, though WABA as an organization is not taking credit for this latest, much larger stunt.

Yesterday, City Desk provided a juicy bit of news for late on a summer Friday: Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) seems to think that D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles ought to hit the road:

In a city where the HIV/AIDS infection rate has reached epidemic proportions, is it OK for drug stores to keep their condoms under lock and key, theoretically discouraging skittish shoppers, especially teens, from purchasing them?

       

Hundreds gathered in Dupont Circle last night to protest the California Supreme Court's decision to uphold Proposition 8, as we noted yesterday. Among others, Councilmen Phil Mendelson spoke to the crowd; you can see a video taken of some of the speakers at EricaAmerica. Check out some images from our photographers, and read more about whether or not the people should vote on marriage rights in our post earlier today.

A couple of breaking reports of multiple arrests at separate and unrelated protest sites in Washington this morning. The higher profile incident includes the apparent detention of five U.S. lawmakers, including Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.). The lawmakers were arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy (2210 Massachusetts Ave. NW) here in Washington, after they allegedly crossed a police line at a protest against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's decision to expel aid agencies from Darfur.

                

Yesterday a group of the world's brightest economists and financial leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., for spring conference meetings at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Truly, these fiscal Cassandras were the only people who predicted the current global financial crisis.

              

This year's most double entendre-rich protest movement arrived in front of the White House this morning without the benefit of the objects of ridicule themselves. As the Post reported earlier, the so-called Tea Party protesters were greeted with bad news while they set up for planned protests at Lafayette Square and the U.S. Treasury building today: they didn't have permission to dump a million tea bags in the park, and they lacked a permit to demonstrate in front of Treasury. No massive public teabagging allowed, after all.

Whackadoo Fred Phelps and members of the Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church will make stops in Virginia and the District this morning, picketing Fairfax High School, George Mason University and several embassies before reaching the White House around 11:30 a.m.

   

A group of protesters have gathered in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, blocking traffic along some corridors. DCist's Fredo Alvarez captured these two images, one of the protesters (we're told they are an anti-war group, carrying signs with messages varying from identifying themselves with Students for a Democratic Society to "Make Funk, Not War"), and the other of an MPD vehicle that's been splattered with red paint. We don't have many reliable details at this point, but we've heard that for at least part of their march, the group went the wrong way down 19th Street NW, causing a lot of traffic backup, and that they were also spotted near M Street NW between 16th and 17th, creating a traffic jam there as well. Several reports indicate the police response appears to be disproportional to the small number of protesters (maybe the going down the wrong way on a one-way street had something to do with that?). We'll update with more soon.

William "Doubting" Thomas, founder of the Peace Park vigil in Lafayette Park outside the White House, died last month after a long illness. The Washington Post ran its story about Thomas, born William Thomas Hallenback Jr., over the weekend. Thomas and his wife Ellen maintained their antiwar vigil for almost 28 years, and became something of a D.C. institution.

              

Written by DCist Contributor Shauna Miller

In the wake of the passage of Prop 8 in California, which revoked marriage rights from gays and lesbians in California, a series of nationwide protests are planned for Saturday, and protest-loving Washington, D.C. will of course see its own version. The Washington Prop 8 protest plans to meet at the Reflecting Pool in front of the U.S. Capitol at 1:30 p.m. The route of the march will then head down the National Mall and up 14th, eventually ending up at Lafayette Park. Those interested in participating are being encouraged to RSVP via Facebook. So far, over 3,000 people have said they will attend.

As we mentioned in today's morning roundup, it's been two years since the protests over the selection of Jane Fernandes as the president of Gallaudet University brought the country's premier higher learning institution for the deaf to a standstill. Well we missed this tidbit in the WaPo's District Extra this morning: the school yesterday announced it will begin a formal process to find a new president.

The Washington Times reported today that a few of the truckers who showed up on Tuesday for a protest against high gas prices had their trucks towed from a motel parking lot in Landover Hills, Md. Each of the three drivers who had their trucks towed have been fined $2,000 by the towing company; the trucks were apparently parked next to a hard to see "no parking" sign. Considering only about 20 drivers showed up out of the hundreds that were expected, these drivers have got to be pretty pissed they bothered to show up at all.

So much for all the worrying this morning. The Associated Press says only about 20 truckers actually participated in a protest against high gasoline prices near the Capitol today. Original estimates from organizers was that somewhere between 200 and 400 truckers were expected. We've heard the 20 or so who did show up did plenty of honking, however. Naturally, organizers are blaming the high cost of fuel on the low turnout; apparently it's too expensive to protest that gas is too expensive.

Both D.C. Wire and the Washington Business Journal reported that a group of somewhere between 100 and 200 protesters disrupted the D.C. Council's first day back at work this afternoon. Some of the protesters were members of Empower D.C., a group protesting the closing of the Franklin Shelter. The Council was expected to pass emergency legislation to keep the shelter open until Mayor Fenty provides more information about which services the shelter's residents, many of whom have already been moved into their own apartments, can expect to receive once they move out. The rest of those gathered were union members who came to protest the

         

Voting rights activists and members of the D.C. delegation to the Democratic National Convention held a small rally in front of the U.S. Mint in Denver this morning, but the Mint's location on the edge of downtown made for a not particularly visible event among the throng of other convention-related activities going on here.

DC Vote just sent around an email to all their supporters to remind them of their planned event outside the U.S. Mint in downtown Denver. The rally (protest? gathering?) is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. From the announcement:

We will host a peaceful rally outside the Denver Mint and pass out wooden coins to the public because the mint rejected the DC government's request to imprint the words "taxation without representation" on DC's quarters and because…

Continue reading "Rally at U.S. Mint to Go Ahead Without Permit"

The Inaugural Parade has seen more than its fair share of controversy over the last few years. In 2001, a few protesters scuffled with police, resulting in six arrests. In 2005, D.C. police were accused by the ACLU of making false arrests and indiscriminately using pepper spray during the inauguration festivities. This past March, a federal court ruled that the park service had violated the First Amendment by preventing war protesters from getting near the parade. So news over the weekend that the National Park Service has proposed new rules about where the public can be during the parade come as no surprise.

       

When a friend emailed to invite me to cover this past weekend's DNC protests, I had blogger visions running through my head of life-size puppets, patchouli and lots and lots of yelling. Sadly, it seems like most of the good stuff happened inside the hotel, where the protesters weren't supposed to be and I didn't try to go. But I've got your boring, ill-attended protest round-up anyway, complete with pictures of as much of the crazy as I bothered trying to document.

Sometimes you get some really strange press releases. In particular, DC Voices for Meal Choices will be staging a sit-in on April 7, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 425 13th St. NW. The subject line reads, "Shocking 'EAT-IN' supporting menu labeling in DC." Plus, there will be "PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES!" The purpose of the sit-in is in support of the DC MEAL Act, which would require any chain restaurant with more than 10 locations nationwide to list nutritional information on their menus. According to DC Voices for Meal Choices, 50% of DC citizens are overweight or obese, one of the highest obesity rates in the country. Furthermore, $2 billion a year are spent in District restaurants. Regardless of whether that includes meals eaten by tourists and those outside the area or what kinds of establishments are most frequented, the obesity rate speaks for itself. (And does anyone find calling it an "Eat-In" a little ironic since you're trying to reduce obesity? Shouldn't it be a "Fast-In"?)

The Post is reporting that participants in today's Iraq war protests were disappointed by the turnout. What did you see? Here's some of the images that have already been uploaded to the DCist Flickr Pool.

In addition to the long list of anti-war protests planned throughout the city today (we'll have some photos up from some of them later on), around 200 activists staged a "Freeze-In" protest at Union Station on Tuesday. In the video above, you can see several dozen people who "froze" in place for about a minute at 5 p.m. yesterday to mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war. The group, situated in the middle of the busy station at rush hour, then chanted "end the war" and other anti-war slogans. (h/t Nikolas Schiller)

As we reported last week, Georgetown residents should have been ready for some rude awakenings over the weekend -- and rude awakenings they received.

James Jay Lee, the man better known only as "Lee", the organizer of a lengthy protest against The Discovery Channel, has been arrested by Montgomery County police. Lee appears to have spent thousands of dollars in advertising his protest plans in publications such as the Express and hiring homeless people to beef up his presence in front of the cable network's Silver Spring headquarters.