A few hundred marchers took to the streets of downtown D.C. at lunchtime Tuesday during the International AIDS Conference.
More than 23,000 people are in town to attend the weeklong event at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
The marchers departed from Mt. Vernon Square near the convention center at noon, complete with the aid of a police escort.
One marcher was Jean Ross, co-president of National Nurses United, a union and professional association of registered nurses that claims 175,000 members. She said her group was marching in support of a Robin Hood Tax that would put a “small tax on Wall Street speculation” and pay for HIV/AIDS treatment.
They were soon joined by a smaller group of protesters, and then targeted Bank of America at its branch next to Lafayette Square by the White House, pressed up against its door and windows, chanting “Bank of America, shame on you!”
“I am sick of this disease. It’s time to end it,” said Michael Tikili of the District, who says he has been living with HIV since 2009. “They keep telling us there’s no money to end AIDS. There is money — it’s in Wall Street.”
The protesters had a stage set up in Lafayette Square. Among the speakers was South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka.
“We need to tell President Obama to start walking the talk,” she told the crowd. “This war we must win.”
