Originally posted by: PJABBER
Originally posted by: JSt0rm01
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Having seen many demonstrations and protests here in DC over the years I actually found the politeness and friendly behavior of the huge crowds on Saturday to be almost shocking in retrospect. You have to live here (or in places like Seattle, etc.) to know how rough the anarchist/communist/liberal protesters can be, ie during the G8/G20 summits.
ohh dude I lived there for 4 years. The capitol police know what the fuck they are doing. Nothing ever got too far out of hand.
Just to offer a recent historical perspective...
Washington D.C. Riot of 1968
Crowds of as many as 20,000 overwhelmed the District's 3,100-member police force, and President Lyndon B. Johnson dispatched some 13,600 federal troops, including 1,750 federalized D.C. National Guard troops to assist them. Marines mounted machine guns on the steps of the Capitol and Army troops from the 3rd Infantry guarded the White House. At one point, on April 5, rioting reached within two blocks of the White House before rioters retreated. The occupation of Washington was the largest of any American city since the Civil War. Mayor Washington imposed a curfew and banned the sale of alcohol and guns in the city. By the time the city was considered pacified on Sunday, April 8, twelve had been killed (mostly in burning homes), 1,097 injured, and over 6,100 arrested. Additionally, some 1,200 buildings had been burned, including over 900 stores. Damages reached $27 million. This can be estimated to be equivalent to over $156 million today.
The riots utterly devastated Washington's inner city economy. With the destruction or closing of businesses, thousands of jobs were lost, and insurance rates soared. Made uneasy by the violence, city residents of all races accelerated their departure for suburban areas, depressing property values. Crime in the burned out neighborhoods rose sharply, further discouraging investment.
On some blocks, only rubble remained for decades. Columbia Heights and the U Street corridor did not begin to recover economically until the opening of the U St/Cardozo and Columbia Heights Metro stations in 1991 and 1999, respectively, while the H Street NE corridor remained depressed for several years longer.
Walter Washington, who reportedly refused FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's suggestion to shoot the rioters, went on to become the city's first elected mayor and its first black mayor.
Washington D.C. May Day Protests 1971
While protesters listened to music, planned their actions or slept, the authorities quickly moved 10,000 Federal troops to various locations in the D.C. area, including 4,000 paratroopers from the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division. At one point, so many soldiers and marines were being moved into the area from bases along the East Coast that troop transports were landing at the rate of one every three minutes at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland, about 15 miles from the White House. These troops were to back up the 5,100 D.C. Metropolitan Police and 2,000 D.C. National Guard troops that were already on the streets.
A state of siege existed in the Capital. Thousands of troops and thousands of demonstrators planned to confront each other on Monday May 3rd. Problems developed when protesters and soldiers of the same age faced off. The unarmed protesters kept pounding on the fact that they, the protesters, were striving to keep them, the soldiers, from being sent to kill and die in Vietnam. This was, in many cases, such a persuasive argument that officers had to rotate the troops frequently in order to prevent mutiny from those in the front lines face to face with their peers. Nixon?s internal security forces had moved into place early Monday morning. Every bridge coming into the city was lined with troops. Every monument, park and traffic circle had troops protecting its perimeters. Paratroopers and marines made helicopter combat assaults onto the grounds of the Washington Monument. Hundreds of troops were brought into the city by helicopter to support the police. Despite this phenomenal violation of posse comitatus (prohibiting the use of military force for domestic police actions), the most pacific of the protesters, the Quaker resistance group, managed to persuade at least one garbage truck to leap from an embankment onto the Rock Creek Parkway blocking traffic.
While the troops were in place and thousands held in reserve, the police clashed with members of the Mayday Tribe. The Yippies engaged in hit and run tactics throughout the city, trying to disrupt traffic and cause chaos in the streets. The police responded with tear gas and mass arrests. While Nixon rested in San Clemente, California, thousands of Federal workers had to navigate through police lines and Mayday Tribe roadblocks. Nixon had refused to give Federal workers the day off because he wanted it to appear as though the government was still operating normally.
While the troops secured the major intersections and bridges, the police roamed through the city making massive arrest sweeps. They arrested anyone who looked like a demonstrator, including an interesting number of construction workers (anti-protesters) who had come out to support the government and maybe kick some hippy butt, rounding up thousands and transporting them to jails and an emergency detention center located at the Washington Redskins practice field, next to RFK Stadium, east of the United States Capitol. Skirmishes between protesters and police occurred up until about mid-day, but by Monday afternoon, the Mayday Tribe?s actions were mostly over. Against thousands of troops and police, the protesters did not have a chance. On Monday, the police had arrested over 7,000 demonstrators. Over the next few days several thousand more would be arrested during smaller protests, totaling about 12,000 persons making this the largest mass arrest in U.S. history.
Washington D.C. Riot of 1991
As rumors that a Hispanic man was shot and killed while handcuffed spread throughout the neighborhood, crowds of youths, most in their teens and twenties, formed and started to attack the police. Around 400 youths fought running street battles with the police for several hours, late into the night. Police cars were torched and several stores looted. The District?s mayor, Sharon Pratt Dixon told the police to hold back from making arrests for looting because she feared it would only antagonize the crowd and lead to more violence. District law enforcement officials also had problems massing enough riot police to control the riot because of a lack of communication equipment. These problems led to an uncoordinated response when the rioting first began. Because of this poor initial response, several police officers were left to fend for themselves as the mob attacked them and had to wait to be rescued by other officers. The violence continued until early in the morning, when the crowds began to break up because of rain.
Hoping to avoid a second night of rioting, city officials met with Hispanic community leaders the next day. But the meeting did little to stop the violence. By evening, even with 1,000 riot police on the streets, the rioting started again. Police fought with as many as 600 black and Hispanic youths, some with bandanas over their faces. The rioters pushed dumpsters into the streets to block traffic, looted and damaged stores, and attacked police vehicles and city transit buses, setting several on fire. Several instances of gunfire were also reported. The police responded by firing tear gas grenades at the groups of rioting youths and by making arrests. When it was obvious that the disturbance was not going to end, the Mayor declared a State of Emergency and put a curfew into effect. The curfew covered a four square mile area of the city and included not only the Mount Pleasant area but also the surrounding areas of Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights.
By Tuesday night, after two nights of rioting, the curfew resulted in the disorder easing, with only isolated incidents of violence and 33 arrests reported on the third night of rioting. Hundreds of police officers descended onto the neighborhood to enforce the 7pm curfew and curb incidents of violence. Even though there were some reports of rock and bottle throwing, no stores were looted or fires set. Most people in the area stayed in their homes, afraid of being arrested for breaking the curfew. The riot was basically over.
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