The March for Life, an annual anti-abortion protest that attracted about 200,000 people into the city last year, and which is returning to town next week, will be a double whammy for a city already strained by inaugural crowds.
The Jan. 22 protest, which begins on the National Mall and loops around the Capitol building, will demand additional preparations from the city’s police and public transportation force just two days after the city is inundated with inauguration spectators.
But Metro, which expects to run six- to eight-car trains during peak hours and keep additional cars on standby, does not consider plans to accommodate this year’s march out of the ordinary.
“We always anticipate crowds for the March for Life,” Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.
The Metropolitan Police Department will have officers working 12-hour shifts and has planned extensively in preparing for and staffing the event, MPD spokeswoman Traci Hughes said.
Local schools will provide shelter for out-of-town marchers who would otherwise undoubtedly find it near impossible to book a room in one of the city’s hotels, which were sold-out for the entire inauguration week long ago. Catholic University, which has it’s own Metro stop, expects to host about 1,600 participants.
Students from Trinity High School of Manchester, N.H., planning to attend the march have arranged to stay at Manassas St. Thomas Church in Virginia and St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Glensburgh, Md.
“[The inauguration] didn’t really effect the plans,” said Joe Malinowski, Trinity’s campus minister. “It was a little more difficult to find housing for the bus drivers. You have to go a little bit farther outside the city.”
March for Life planners has no way of knowing whether or not this year’s inauguration will affect turnout, but President Nellie Gray said organizers didn’t do anything unusual in planning for this year’s march either.
“There have been times when we’ve been kind of close to inauguration,” Gray said. “But our organization is totally coordinated with six police jurisdictions. We have all of our permits. What we don’t know is how many people will stay in town.”
