About 250 Occupiers snarled traffic on 14th Street for hours Tuesday night as protesters took to the streets in cities across the country for the Occupy movement’s national May Day protest.

In New York, thousands of Occupiers marched in the streets and confronted police on Fifth Avenue; in Seattle, protesters smashed windows and caused damage to the city’s courthouse. Protesters damaged buildings in San Francisco and faced tear gas from police in Oakland, Calif. But in the District, protesters lounged in Meridian Hill Park for several hours, dancing around a maypole and holding a rally featuring speakers impersonating historical labor leaders. Then they marched to the White House for a late-evening rally.