Title: Occutards plan major DC demonstration on 1/17 Source:
The Washington Examiner URL Source:http://washingtonexaminer.com/local ... -january-demonstration/2039451 Published:Dec 28, 2011 Author:Aubrey Whelan Post Date:2011-12-28 08:04:42 by Happy Quanzaa Keywords:Obama-doma-ding-dong, Obama, occutards & occuturds Views:845 Comments:1
As the Occupy movement heads into its fourth month in the District, protesters are preparing for a major demonstration on Capitol Hill in mid-January.
Dubbed "Occupy Congress," the planned Jan. 17 protest bears some similarities to Take Back the Capital, a labor union-backed protest that included a camp out on the National Mall in early December. But this protest has been embraced by Occupy DC, which has taken the lead in organizing it and plans to host thousands of protesters who they said would converge on D.C. on the day Congress returns to work.
Occupiers want to tell Congress that "our elected officials are no longer representing the people" and protest the prevalence of money in politics, said participant Mario Lozada of Philadelphia. Participants plan to host sit-ins at congressional offices and are applying for a permit that would allow up to 10,000 people to march on the Capitol.
At the Occupy DC camp in McPherson Square, protesters say the Jan. 17 "action" will be similar to the K Street protests of early December in which Occupiers blocked several downtown intersections, stopped traffic for hours and were arrested in droves.
Mark Smith, a member of Occupy DC's action committee, said the camp is expecting busloads of protesters from as far away as Oakland and Miami. Originally, organizers had called for protesters to erect a tent city on the National Mall, but that idea was shot down because, Lozada said, the Mall has limited resources to stage a large-scale tent protest.
Occupy DC is expecting 2,000 additional protesters to arrive from across the country, Smith said.
He said Occupy DC, which has tried to distance itself from the labor unions that have provided support for the protesters, decided to support Occupy Congress once "we found out it wasn't union."
Lozada said the movement is still working out details on specific "actions" for Jan. 17 because most of the event's planning has taken place on Twitter and list-servs that police and others outside the movement can access.
"It's hard to ever be able to successfully have a direct action without police trying to stop us," Lozada said. "We'll have flash actions - sort of a surprise, so the police can't stop us." He said the day's protests will be "absolutely peaceful demonstrations."
Occupiers want to tell Congress that "our elected officials are no longer representing the people" and protest the prevalence of money in politics, said participant Mario Lozada of Philadelphia.
