More than five dozen protesters upset about what they call corporate greed and the excessive influence of money in politics were arrested Wednesday after shutting down K Street, home to many of the city’s influential lobbying firms, in a mass demonstration that snarled mid-day traffic in the nation’s capital.
The arrests came as demonstrators from across the country converged on K Street for a march that included participants from Occupy Wall Street encampments as well as other groups — including unions— sympathetic to their message about income inequality. D.C. police had made 62 arrests by 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, said spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump. Sixty-one of the arrests were for obstructing a public highway and an additional arrest was made for a misdemeanor assault on a police officer.
They've taken over McPherson Square which is across the street from my office. I walk past the park a couple times of day so I'm getting a bird's eye view of what's going on. They have been in the park since October. I have mixed emotions about their continued occupancy of the park.
To my thinking you get to have one protest a day. You get to disrupt traffic and people just once in the course of the day. On Wednesday, there were a whole series of protests that lasted from before noon until past rush hour. I hate to say it but the people these protest have the greatest impact on are the everyday working people trying to get to and from work.
They've been in the park since October. They essential take up just about the entire space. They prevent anyone else from using it. It's getting into winter so there won't be many people trying to use it. But come spring people will want to use. By then I think Occupy DC needs to be gone.
What they are protesting about is very important. Income inequality is only getting worse. The financial crisis brought on by the banks and the very rich is impacting just about everyone else but them. The problem is, that by continuing to demonstrate week after week, Occupy DC becomes the issue not the issue of income inequality.
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