Dozens of demonstrators were arrested Wednesday, including more than 30 outside the IRS building, as protests of the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War turned downtown D.C. into a carnival of civil disobedience.
Anarchists splattered blood-red paint on office workers trying to enter office buildings on K Street, while grandmothers in rocking chairs knitted stump stocks for amputees outside the Veterans Affairs offices and masked mourners marched down Pennsylvania Avenue on stilts.
“Honestly, do I think this will stop the war tomorrow? No,” said Jay Strong, 28, of Philadelphia. “But I think it will bring attention to the injustices and spread awareness.”
Manihi Kontnik, 19, of Arizona, said she came to D.C. to try to stop what she called the carnage that has led to the deaths of nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. “It’s time to bring the troops home and to start valuing life,” Kontnik said.
The protests turned ugly at the corner of 15th and K streets, where demonstrators doused office workers with red paint, hoping to nail lobbyists for defense contractor Bechtel Corp., which rents a floor at 1015 15th Street.
Matt Crandall, chief engineer for a building on that corner, spent four hours cleaning up the mess. “That did absolutely nothing to help their cause,” he said. “Bechtel doesn’t have to clean this up.”
Aaron Rubin, 50, drove in from Vermont hauling an effigy of President Bush astride a giant fiberglass missile, reminiscent of Slim Pickens’ ride in “Dr. Strangelove.” “Millions of people marching against the war five years ago failed to grasp the media’s attention,” Rubin said. “Maybe this will.”
Dozens of people turned McPherson Square into a marketplace of causes. As a rock band banged out protest covers, young people handed out fliers and people sold buttons and books from card tables.
The range of injustices was vast, from the Iraq War to global warming to Guantanamo Bay to meat.
“There’s so much to protest; it’s hard to focus on one theme,” said Eric C. Anderson, 49, of Washington, wearing an oversized Dick Cheney mask with a sign that read, “I Love Greed and Corruption.”
Several demonstrators donned polar bear suits to bring attention to the oil and gas drilling leases in Alaska.A young woman passed out fliers demanding the end of Caterpillar bulldozer sales to Israel that she said are used to demolish Palestinian buildings.
David Hart, the former head of Veterans for Peace, of Washington, , said, “I enjoy seeing colleagues take to the streets, but we should realize that this has its limitations. We need a long-term strategy if we want to be taken seriously.”
