DC Chapter Forms "Human Shield" to Protect White House Sunday, 1/19/03
-- After-Action Report
DC Chapter of Free Republic ^ | January 20, 1003 | Angelwood and tgslTakoma
Posted on 01/20/2003 2:36 PM PST by Angelwood
Kristinn came up with the idea to stage a freep at the White House and stand as Human Shields to protect the White House against the anti-war demonstrators organized and backed by IAC/ANSWER (a front group for the World Workers Party – communists).
We had intelligence that small groups would be marching from the Justice Department around the White House and that some of the protesters planned to demand the inspection of the White House for weapons of mass destruction. There were also reports that 50 or so protesters had volunteered to participate in civil disobedience and break the law in order to get arrested.
We planned a "stealth" freep, keeping details under wraps to prevent the anti-war groups from getting wind of our plans and disrupting us. It isn't easy to keep such plans secret.
At 10:00 a.m. most of us were on the way to the White House, bundled up in double and triple everything in order to keep warm. It was marginally warmer than on Saturday, but it was windier as well. In fact, the wind unfurled our flags and showed the stars and stripes off beautifully, but it also made holding foam board signs difficult.
We found parking by the Veterans Administration and walked a block to Lafayette Park. There were maintenance workers putting fencing into place and closing off the edge of the park bordering H Street as we walked into the park on our way to the front of the White House. Lafayette Park was practically deserted except for various police departments already in place for the scheduled anti-war protest march.
The permanent anti-nuke protesters were in their usual spots, along with the Code Pink ladies that have recently taken up a permanent protesting presence at the White House as well.
Stretched out along 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue were Park Police and DC Police vehicles of every description: Large truck vans for detainees (arrested individuals), horse trailers filled with the horses used by the Park Police for crowd control, vans, cars, unmarked cars, motorcycles and trucks. Both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue at 15th and 17th were blocked.
Doctor Raoul was first on the scene, followed closely by BufordP, LisaFab and her friend, Ed, Xthe17th, kristinn, tgslTakoma, Angelwood, Jimmy Valentine’s brother and Taxman. There were enough of us to hold up the signs that tgslTakoma hand painted in PINK, which spelled out our purpose to protect the White House from the protesters – HUMAN SHIELDS. We were joined a little later by a man carrying a flag from the 82nd Airborne (please contact us so we can get the pictures to you), two young and enthusiastic College Republicans from American University and a Gulf War vet who wanted to stand with us.
We started out standing on the sidewalk in front of the White House, but the concrete barriers were in the way. So, we moved into the street. Somehow, police cars blocking the view were moved away and we soon had a wide area in which to stand with our signs spread out.
We immediately generated some discussion from people who had obviously been part of the anti-war rally and a couple of photographers stopped to take photos. A man stopped to ask if the woman accompanying him could have her picture taken in front of us. She declined to hold a sign, but said she wanted to stand up for what she believed in.
We chanted some of the catch phrases that we used on Saturday...
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