OK, so I went up to the city today to see a rally/protest/march/whathaveyou to see if actually seeing it in person would give me some more insight into why people do this and what it accomplishes.
Color me somewhat underwhelmed. It was interesting, but I still don’t think these activities necessarily accomplish anything, and the message gets lost when other groups come out and join in. (I was approached by the socialists a couple of times…thanks, just observing.) Did get some pics - I’d toss it in the photo gallery, but I wanted some narration so they’re behind the cut, and it is very image heavy.
They said that there were 30,000 in attendance. I don’t think it was quite that high.
Pick your sign, any sign…
Or, a button
This idiot nearly got his ass kicked by the folks at the rally - the police eventually convinced him it would probably be in his best interest to not provoke people. This was not a quashing of free speech, this guy was there for no other reason than to cause trouble. He was hollered at by several people that this was not a racist event and to please take it elsewhere.
Prayers
Just not what I’d expected to see
The police had it fairly easy today - things were pretty well controlled overall. The officer on the right asked if I was Muslim or a sympathizer - basically just trying to figure out what this decidedly out of place looking gal was doing. “Just observing.”
After the rally, they marched in front of the White House and over to 15th Street:
No anti-war march is complete without the Grim Reaper:
No official counter protests, but there were these rather hateful people over on the side. No, the police aren’t protecting them, they’re at the corner of the route where they have to make sure the march turns and goes down the right street:
