Occupiers march en masse on the National Mall in Washington D.C.
BURLINGTON- In the rainy mid-morning of January 17th, a group of Occupiers some 1,000 strong march down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the United States Capitol building. They are here to speak to their elected representatives on their first day of legislative session. Arriving at the capitol, the occupiers are initially met with about a dozen members of the Capitol Police Department who, anticipating the masses rally immediately call for some 200 hundred armed reinforcements on foot and bicycle (affectionately referred to by Occupiers as "Cop-sicles") who were waiting nearby.
Capitol Police forces are deployed against the Occupy Congress movement this week
Barricades were erected across the public sidewalk and some Occupiers were arrested and hustled into a paddy-wagon as a large student group stopped watched from across the street. Pushing both Occupiers and members of the press over a stone wall and into an area that had been kettled off, police were greeted by chants of "GO FIGHT CRIME!- GO FIGHT CRIME!" and "PEACEFUL PROTEST!-PEACEFUL PROTEST!"
Occupiers are arrested in front of the capitol and moved to a kettled location by the Capital Police
OCCUPY MOVES IN
In addition to a contingent of Occupiers from Burlington, a nearly uncountable number of other Occupy movements have descended upon the nation's capital from Occupy encampments as far flung as Boston, Oakland, Oregon, Orlando, San Diego, Tampa, Santa Cruz, Des Moines, New York, and New Hampshire. Despite what has been reported by much of the mainstream media, the personnel that have come out of the woodwork from the various Occupations are highly skilled in operations such as media-making, graphic design, communications, conflict resolution, and emergency medicine.
By combining the new and emerging tools of Web 2.0 and convergent media with the time tested methods of community organizing, pavement pounding, and a little bit of street theater; the Occupiers have built an enormous movement that is now comprised of a patchwork of individual movements both across the country and around the world. At last count, 82 countries and an excess of 2500 cities had Occupy movements that were active and functioning in their respective communities.
After several hours on the National Mall as well a massive attempt meet with Representatives of their various states, many of the Occupiers, now in a swelling crowd of 3,000 or more marched from the Capitol to the steps of the Supreme court as Capitol Police cruisers, motorcycles, and patrolmen scrambled to frantically shut down the streets and sidewalks in a semi-chaotic flurry of lights, sirens, and audibly overwhelmed radio dispatches. Taking the steps of the Supreme Court, the enormous crowd chanted "MONEY IS NOT SPEECH!-MONEY IS NOT SPEECH!" in reference to last year's decision by that body to allow unlimited campaign contributions, one of the vast myriad of issues that nearly all Occupiers are able to speak at length about on a moment's notice.
An Occupier prepares to march to the Supreme Court by calling out to the 99 Percent
A few moments later, a spontaneous decision was made to move the rally onwards to a location that sent police and journalists running for their vehicles and shouting into their radios and phones was indicated a nearly deafening chant of "TO THE WHITE HOUSE!-TO THE WHITE HOUSE!-TO THE WHITE HOUSE!" The crowd surged towards Pennsylvania Avenue.
"FREE SPEECH!... FREE SPEECH!"
In the dim light of the street, Occupiers ranging in age from seven to seventy moved in a solid mass up the Avenue towards number 1600. Chanting the slogan of the movement such as the now familiar "WE ARE THE 99 PERCENT!" as well as new adoptions such as "A- ANTI- ANTI-CAPITALISTA!" the dense throng of people paused for a few moments outside the Newseum to read, via the repeating People's Mic, the gigantic 1st Amendment to the Constitution that is engraved upon its towering facade.
Occupiers use the People's Mic to recite the 1st Amendment of the Constitution
Arriving at the White House, the crowd chanted "OBAMA, COME OUT, WE HAVE SOME THINGS TO TALK ABOUT!", "BANKS GOT BAILED OUT, WE GOT SOLD OUT!" as well as "SHOW ME WHAT HYPOCRISY LOOKS LIKE! THAT IS WHAT HYPOCRISY LOOKS LIKE!" as they pointed towards the illuminated front of the Executive Mansion.
After approximately 20 minutes at the fence of the White House, during which time some Occupiers had begun to meditate as others sang "We Shall Overcome", a ripple of fear and uncertainty swept through the crowd when somebody set off a smoke grenade near the front of the crowd. Believing it to be tear-gas fired by the police, Occupiers rushed away from the noxious smoke, doused face-scarves with water to aid breathing, and prepared for a potential assault by police forces.
Occupiers meditate as they gather in front of the White House.
Shortly after this photograph was taken a smoke grenade was lobbed into the crowd
The assault never came. In its absence there has since been much speculation about the source of the smoke grenade that alarmed so much of the crowd in addition to putting the White House itself on lock-down.
GOOD DAY, BAD DAY
Swelling with good-feeling following a mostly peaceful gathering that witnessed only sporadic arrests, the Occupy movement was again buoyed upwards this week by an announcement that 18 additional Senators are now joining them in opposition to the SOPA/PIPA bill that calls for censoring vast portions of the internet. Additionally, Occupiers have also been overjoyed to learn that the Obama administration is finally standing in opposition to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would have linked Canadian Tar Sands oil facilities to refinery facilities in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico.
However, this swell of optimism and progress was quickly dampened as word was received in Burlington as well as occupations around the country that a group of students marching on their Board of Regents at UC Riverside in California were fired upon without warning by campus police. Although no Occupiers have released any plans as of the time of this writing, several that this reporter has spoken to have vowed to take action in solidarity with Occupy UC Riverside in the coming days.