Occupy Walmart (DC Ferguson protests take on a life of their own)
The H Street Walmart in Washington, D.C., got a bit of a surprise on Tuesday night when dozens of Ferguson protesters took a detour from their march around the nation’s capital to march through the store.
Thousands of protesters made their way through Northwest D.C., starting at 7 p.m. with rally at Mount Vernon Square and ending on the steps of the National Portrait Gallery. Their long, looping route—upward of two miles—took them past one of the district’s newly opened Walmart Supercenters. As the protesters marched south along First Street toward the store, they began chanting “Shut Walmart down!” Then, while the bulk of the protest turned right to head down H Street toward Chinatown, a few dozen participants headed for Walmart’s big sliding doors.
They marched into the store, rode up the escalator––chanting all the while––and took a lap around, through the produce section and past the frozen foods cases, ending back in front of the store.
I’ve covered a decent amount of protests––Truckers for the Constitution comes to mind, as well as a huge anti-marriage-equality march led by a woman blowing a shofar and an immigration rally where more than a half-dozen members of Congress were arrested––but nothing matches the surrealism of a “Justice for Mike Brown! JAIL Ofc. Darren Wilson for Murder Stop Racist Police Terror” banner hoisted above a Walmart customer service sign.
The protesters chanted “No justice, no peace!” and “A living wage! No peace!” as they re-assembled and headed for the exit.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/11/washington_d_c_s_ferguson_protests_march_leads_to_walmart.html
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