Yep! Funny ... the Book Festival on the Mall is hosted by First Lady Laura Bush. Hhhhmmmm ... think it was a coincidence that Code Pink and their sycophants chose the same weekend?
I would bet that CODE PINK and Not in Our Name have never heard of the National Book Festival.
This is the traditional weekend for black bandana'd anarchists to attempt to trash DC in protest of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. After 9/11/01 the nation was in no mood to give a pass to these thugs, so they combined their hate Globalism message with a hate Bush, hate US military effort message.
Every year their numbers decrease.
It would not surprise me that the Park Police, Secret Service, and all the other agencies involved with defending DC suggested filling the Mall with reasonable people this year.
Or it could be a coincidence - and nobody knows what others do on Saturdays in September in DC.
I'd love to learn the real answer.