Police Ramp Up Presence at Occupy DC; Williams Affirms Labor Support for Movement

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Occupy DC appeared to enter a new phase yesterday when a march in solidarity with local construction workers was met with a significantly increased police presence. When Occupy DC, the Laborers, and DC Jobs or Else set out from McPherson Square to march to a nearby Clark Construction worksite where they say management is refusing to hire local workers, multiple Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) squad cars and motorcycles, as well as four police on horseback, lined the street before the protesters had even left the park. When marchers attempted to take the street, as they have routinely in recent weeks, they were forced back onto the sidewalk by police wielding batons and the mounted police. One Occupy DC activist told Union City that he suspected the police escalation was in response to occupiers’ successful demand for an investigation into hit-and-run incidents during Friday night’s action that injured several occupiers; others said it was in response to Mayor Gray’s warning Monday that occupiers “ensure that their protests are peaceful and not discredited by violence.” Noting that the only violence thus far during weeks of Occupy DC protests came when a vehicle rammed through a peaceful Occupy DC protest against the Koch brothers last Friday, Metro Washington Council President Jos Williams “strongly reaffirmed” the Council’s support for both DC occupations, which are “dedicated to non-violent tactics, and even more committed to continuing to expose the daily economic violence wreaked by Wall Street upon working families here and across the country.” And while noting that “We recognize and appreciate local authorities’ assistance in maintaining safety during recent demonstrations,” Williams emphasized that “we fully expect that protestors’ First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly will be honored and protected as this movement continues to grow in the weeks and months ahead.” At yesterday’s demonstration, protesters blocked the Clark worksite’s three entrances for an hour amidst chants of “shut it down” and “if we don’t work, they don’t work” and then returned to McPherson Square without incident. - report/photos by Julia Kann