Photo via @tatzanx

Photo via @tatzanx

This article has been updated.

Progress on the Walmart construction site at 5929 Georgia Avenue NW was impeded earlier this morning when a group of demonstrators from Occupy D.C. stationed themselves in front of the old Brightwood car barn to prevent crews from continuing demolition ofwork on the site. About 25 people took part in the protest, said Occupy D.C. member Sara Shaw.

The protest, which began about 7 a.m., prevented at least two trucks operated by Foulger-Pratt, the Rockville firm that is partnering with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on the Georgia Avenue location. (The retail giant is also planning five additional locations elsewhere around the District; five of the six planned stores in D.C. should be open by 2013.) Occupy D.C. was teaming up with Respect DC, an organization that is wary of Walmart opening stores in Washington given the retailer’s spotty labor history.

The demolition of the car barn began last September, but was held up after residents applied to the Historic Preservation Review Board to give the structure protected status. The application was turned down, and Foulger-Pratt crews resumed their work there earlier this week.

Having had their campsites upended in the past couple months, Occupy movements around the country are looking to broaden their scope, and the world’s largest retailer is a favorite target. The Occupy group in Oklahoma, for example, plans to picket Walmart locations in that state.

Occupy D.C., having prevented Foulger-Pratt crews from entering the Georgia Avenue site this morning, is declaring something of a victory for the day.

But the retailer isn’t buying it. “It’s clear to anyone who actually lives in Ward 4 that the majority of residents there are looking forward to the new Walmart store at Georgia-Missouri,” Walmart spokesman Steven Restivo said. “With site work underway customers are one step closer to having employment opportunities and food options closer to home.”

It’s a boilerplate line, as the car barn is Foulger-Pratt’s construction site. I’ve left word with the contractor about what kind of work was scheduled to be done at the site today. For now, though, it appears work on the partially razed old car barn has been halted for at least a morning.

Update, 2 p.m.: Foulger-Pratt’s demolition crews weren’t scheduled to be at the Georgia Avenue site today at all, said Adam Davis, a development executive with the firm. The company’s demolition crews were already scheduled to spend today and tomorrow on another job, he said. The trucks that passed by earlier were carrying fences for another section of the Walmart site away from the car barn. Davis said the fences be installed this afternoon.

“They didn’t delay demolition,” he said of the protesters.

Filed Under: brightwood car barn, foulger-pratt, georgia avenue, occupy d.c., protest, walmart,