Conservative students had planned a peaceful protest of Attorney General Eric Holder’s handling of Fast and Furious Monday morning outside the White House, but that was before the Secret Service shut it down.
Approximately 50 protesters gathered in Lafayette Park as part of the #FireHolder protest before it came to an abrupt end when a “suspicious backpack” was discovered near the site.
The protesters marched in a circle while chanting and waiving anti-Holder signs before the Secret Service dispersed the protest.
After clearing the area, the agents roped off the entire section of Pennsylvania Ave. where the protest had been staged.
Oliver Darcy, digital media editor with Campus Reform, who was involved in the protest Tweeted out in disgust afterward, saying: “Permitted #FireHolder protest: shut down in hours. Unpermitted, Unclean, Unmotivated ‘Occupy DC’: goes on for months!”
Red Alert Politics contributor Tim Dionisopoulos, said the backpack did not belong to any of the protesters, and the owner of the backpack eventually came forward to Secret Service.
Dionisopoulos noted that Secret Service seemed edgy during the protest, that “they just seemed to be interested in getting rid of us.”
He also noted that the protesters “were not invited to come back” after the backpack’s owner was found.
“As a Latin American, it’s horrific for me to see that 300 Mexicans were slaughtered, and no one in the Latino community is talking about it,” protester Christian Andzel said.
Even though the protest was forced to end earlier than planned, Andzel said that he and others were still determined to seek justice for those who were killed.
“As a Latino activist, I want answers,” he said. “We deserve to know why our people were gunned down!”
The White House Peace Vigil, an around-the-clock protest in front of the White House that has been ongoing since 1981 even joined with joined in the chants.
Even though the protest was forced to end earlier than planned, Andzel said that he and others were still determined to seek justice for those who were killed.
