( Dave Phillipich)

Continuing their rally outside the halls of a deeply unpopular Congress, members of the Occupy movement who descended on Washington yesterday spent the remainder of the afternoon dropping by representatives’ offices or plotting the march last evening that took them from Capitol Hill to the White House and back.

The sun emerged after a rainy morning, just in time for the protesters, some who came from as far away as California, to roam the halls of the House Office Buildings lining Independence Avenue. Throngs of protesters clogged the security lanes into each building, but the office visits themselves appeared to be quiet and uneventful.

Viewed on one of the web-savvy movement’s livestreams, some visited the offices of Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), who is running for his party’s nomination for president, and fellow Texas Republican Louis Gohmert, whose office was “mic-checked” in protest of the National Defense Authorization Act, a military spending bill President Obama signed last month that contains controversial provisions over the detention of U.S. citizens suspected of being terrorists.

Despite the several hundred protesters lingering around the Capitol’s West Front lawn all day and with many audibly upset by U.S. Capitol Police barricading various patches of the area, the rally remained mostly peaceful. Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a public information officer for the Capitol Police, told DCist her agency made only four arrests yesterday, three for crossing police lines, and one for assaulting an officer. She did not elaborate on the latter.

As dusk settled, the crowd’s numbers swelled—perhaps reaching 1,000—and a march around Capitol Hill and then up Pennsylvania Avenue commenced. The first stop was the Supreme Court, where several hundred members of the group stood on the courthouse’s steps to protest the ruling in 2010’s Citizens United case.

Next, it was on to the White House. Metropolitan Police Department officers lined one side of the avenue through Penn Quarter just in case. The Post had several pairs of eyes along the route, which despite one frenzied moment, did not feature any police action:

About 8 p.m., protesters surged against the White House fence. Someone climbed to the top of the barrier, and an object similar to a smoke bomb was thrown over the fence, a Secret Service spokesman said. Tension rose as police donned riot helmets. Protesters were told to leave, and it appeared that most if not all of them did. No arrests were reported.

After the march ended, some protesters returned to the Capitol, while others settled in for the night at the encampments at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza. The McPherson Square settlement, which will be the subject of a Congressional hearing next week, was full and lively about 11:15 p.m. last night, but peaceful and lacking any noticeable police presence. (There had been a warren of police officers nearby at 16th and I streets NW a few hours earlier, though their presence was due to the president and Michelle Obama celebrating the first lady’s birthday at BLT Steak.)

Was Occupy Congress a success? Hard to tell, actually, what with both the event’s website as well as Occupy D.C.’s having gone dark today as part of a protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act. (In case you missed it, Wikipedia is down, among several notable sites.)

On its Twitter account this morning, Occupy Congress thanked their legislative hosts. Sort of:

Filed Under: occupy congress, occupy d.c., protest, ron paul, supreme court, white house,