Yesterday at 10 AM Occupy protesters from all over the country gathered at Capitol Square in Washington, DC for Occupy Congress. The day was intended to be a civil exercise in democracy, and, by and large, it was. When some of the protesters shouted things like "When the revolution begins we are going to stick pinecones in the pigs' asses! Fuck the police! Freedom of speech!" the more peaceful members of the crowd told them they were "making [them] look like shit," and that "New York City cops are the ones who beat [their] asses!" Following a few hours spent running around and climbing trees in a game of cat and mouse between Capitol police and protesters after the latter tried to stand on the Square's sidewalks (the protesters were permitted to occupy the grass and nothing but the grass), congress began their session at around 1:45.
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The most popular things to yell while congress was in session were: "America likes us better!" "Fuck you!" and "If I had a 9 percent approval rating I would lose my job!" One guy made a mad dash for the Capitol Building. He sprinted halfway up the steps before turning around and holding up an Occupy flag, but was quickly tackled and arrested. According to DCist, a total of four arrests were made yesterday.Shortly after all the hubbub outside the Capitol Building, the protesters made their way to the various House Office Buildings, where they waltzed inside to ask their least favorite congressmen a bunch of questions. Unfortunately, most of the people they were looking for were nowhere to be found. Disgruntled, the protesters marched to the White House.The most popular chant outside Obama's house was: "Who's house? Our house! We want the president! Fuck you congress! We want progress!" The evening hit its crescendo when someone threw a smoke bomb onto the lawn, at which point the police decided enough was enough and kicked everybody out.At this point some of the crowd headed back to the Capitol, while others returned to the movement's HQs at Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square. The Capitol crowd dealt with a bit of police intimidation when one officer drove onto the lawn in an attempt to discourage them from staying past the 11 PM expiration of their assembly permit. Luckily he didn't run over anyone, and shortly after 11 the crowd dispersed peacefully and I hopped on the 12 AM Chinatown bus for a white-knuckled ride back to the jurisdiction of the good ol' NYPD.
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