AIDS conference takes over downtown D.C.

For the first time in more than two decades, the annual International AIDS Conference is back on U.S. soil and downtown Washington is playing host all week to more than 23,000 delegates from nearly every country in the world.

Held at the District’s 2.3-million-square-foot Walter E. Washington Convention Center, the conference is dominating downtown as attendees — identified by their token denim conference bags and badges — have overtaken the sidewalks and streets around Mount Vernon Square. On Monday afternoon several city police officers were required to direct the traffic around the square all day.