It was a face-off for the ages: Occupy DC protesters toting tents and handmade signs, debating young conservatives dressed to the nines outside the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday.
Chanting “We are the 99 percent,” waving signs and pitching tents on the sidewalk, about 200 union members and Occupy DC protesters converged outside the Marriot Wardman Park hotel to protest CPAC.
But for much of the afternoon, they found themselves engaging with conference attendees, who ventured outside the plush confines of the hotel to “see our opposition,” as Paul Bencivenga, a political science major at American University, put it.
“These are just people unsatisfied with the way they’re living,” Bencivenga said, standing just down the street from a giant inflatable “Fat Cat” the protesters brought with them. “The conservative solution would be to get up and get a job.”
But Jeanae Paul, a protester from Baltimore, said that’s exactly what she’s been trying to do. She has five children and has been unemployed for a year.
“I can’t afford to feed my family,” she said. “I have to be one of the 99 percent.”
Some CPAC attendees said they agreed with Occupy’s concerns but didn’t agree with their approach.
“Occupiers have a solid message, and I understand their anger,” said Zachary Delle, a sophomore at Cornell University. But he added that he felt regulation and taxes on corporations were to blame for the big-business corporatism that’s become a sticking point for the Occupy movement.
Protesters, who included representatives from the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, Teamsters and the local activist group OurDC blocked the street outside the hotel for about two hours.
At one point, a group of protesters attempted to enter the hotel, but police formed a line and marched them back down to the sidewalk, warning protesters, media and CPAC attendees alike that they risked arrest if they stayed in the hotel driveway. Later, about 15 Occupiers made it into the hotel and chanted slogans briefly before being escorted out by police.
Other Occupiers said they managed to enter the hotel on their own, and spent several hours attending talks and even chatting with CPAC attendees.
“If you want an amazing story, come to the bar at the Marriott,” Occupier James Hill tweeted late Friday afternoon. “Tea Partiers, Repubs and Occupiers sharing a table.”
Occupy DC and the unions were set to return to the convention late Friday afternoon.
