Posted on 01/12/2005 2:52:05 PM PST by Tarpaulin
WASHINGTON - The National Park Service has agreed to give thousands of anti-war demonstrators a prime spot along President Bush (news - web sites)'s inaugural parade route that will allow them to protest during the procession.
The anti-war group A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition is planning to erect its own bleachers in the space, an open plaza on Pennsylvania Ave., just a few blocks from the Capitol building, said Brian Becker, national coordinator for the group. The bleachers could seat up to 1,000 people and the park service estimates up to 10,000 could fill the space standing shoulder to shoulder.
"I don't think it's ever happened in history that the anti-war movement has ever been able to have this kind of setup," Becker said.
Park service spokesman Bill Line said the agency has offered the space in John Marshall Plaza to the group but is still waiting for them to submit written confirmation. Becker said A.N.S.W.E.R. plans to submit the paperwork as soon as they can work out details about where to set up the bleachers.
The presidential motorcade carrying Bush will pass directly in front of the protesters' bleachers, which will be across the street from other bleachers set up by the official inaugural committee. The plaza, between the federal courthouse and the Canadian embassy, runs about 240 feet along the historic street that stretches from the Capitol to the White House.
The parade gets under way at 2 p.m. EST on Jan. 20 after Bush's swearing-in at the Capitol and a celebratory luncheon.
Becker said he considers the agreement a "partial victory" but still inadequate because the general public, including many who are opposed to the war in Iraq (news - web sites), will not be able to move into other areas along the parade route as they have in the past.
The park service has also issued A.N.S.W.E.R. permits for protesters to stand in nine other locations along Pennsylvania Ave., but Becker said most are "tiny spaces" behind bleachers or in fenced-in areas more than 100 feet from the parade route.
"Those are meaningless areas, we can't use them," Becker said.
The Secret Service (news - web sites) is allowing protesters to carry signs, but they are prohibiting them from being affixed to poles or sticks for security reasons, Becker said.
The A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition plans to host military families with members in Iraq or whose children have been killed there, as well as veterans and anti-war activists from around the country.
Meanwhile, more than a dozen other groups opposing Bush held a news conference Wednesday to highlight the many marches, rallies and acts of civil disobedience set to take place on inauguration day.
A group called "Turn Your Back on Bush" is asking thousands of activists to line the parade route and turn their backs on the president as his motorcade passes. In a separate march, members of the D.C. Anti-War Network will carry 1,000 coffins draped in black to call attention to soldiers dying in Iraq, then stage a "die-in" at Lafayette Park near the White House, spokesman Jim Macdonald said.
Mumia Abu-Jamal, it seems, killed a Police Officer.
Nice folks. (/sarc)
Target rich environment!
Here's hoping they construct bleachers as "well" as they analyse the war on terror.
Why should the protestors be allowed to erect bleachers on land they do not own?
where is this in relation to where FreeRepublic will be? I thought I read somewhere that we will also have bleachers there. That's nice that the official bleachers are Paid seats and they will havae to look across and see this?
These ANSWER people are violent scum. I hope the SS is on them.
My question is will other groups be allowed to erect bleachers? If the answer is yes then they should be allowed as well (providing they meet all OSHA and DC requirements.) If the answer is no then I start to have a huge problem with this
Sounds like they are trying to make themselves larger than they actually are.
Park Service says 10,000 could fit shoulder-to shoulder. Bleachers would fit 1,000. Something about that sentence doesn't make sense to me. Maybe it's my lack of caffeine.
Watch out, these folks are going to use the opportunity to smuggle in an assassin. They've been telegraphing this one for so long we would be fools not to expect it.
I don't any of these people to get anywhere near Bush.
Require a proctological exam prior to admittance into this area. Seems dangerously short- sighted to allow them this proximity!
Two snipers per protestor just to be safe.
Given ANSWER's radicalism, this permit should have been denied, pure and simple. They are being allowed much too close to the president. This isn't safe at all.
I think we are a block or two away...
Best to keep them where they can easily be watched.
I've been trying to find "us" on the map and I need to get a better map of streets of DC. I have a chance to stand on senate side of congress side. It will depend on which side we are on for the parade. Then I can just jog on down there. Sounds easy doesn't it?
Isn't that special? How come when there were protestors against Clinton....they were kept out of sight completely?
Hopefully, the inaugural route will change at the last minute...hehehe.
Exactly! This is a HUGE victory for the rest of the people at the parade; they deserve peace and quiet to enjoy the parade without being subject to these dregs of life!
Plus it's at the very beginning of the parade, not all that close to the rest of the viewers! Get it over with and get on with the "real" parade!
Perhaps the land they are constructing on is a sink hole??? (One can hope.)
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