Radical Youth Contingent and Students for a Democratic Society March Overview

J27 2007

Mike Erwin

I'm sure others will provide more photos, audio, video, and commentary. I'll concentrate on the march route, march size, and other stuff that doesn't usually get written down.

The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) called for a Radical Youth Contingent (RYC) to assemble at Dupont Circle by 11:00 on the 27th. About 170 protesters assembled at Dupont Circle; about 40 cops assembled in the immediate area. The latter included 2 squads of bike cops, 2 squads of motorcycle cops, and various police cars.

The RYC left Dupont Circle at 10:54 and generally followed Massachusetts to 7th with certain detours to the north, snarling traffic and avoiding police. At one point, the bloc was about 2 lanes wide and 150 meters long, probably still with about 170 people.

(In detail, the RYC followed Massachusetts to Corregidor, and turned left, followed Corregidor to N and turned right, followed N to Vermont and turned right, followed Vermont to Massachusetts and turned left, followed Massachusetts to 13th, briefly halted and formed up, and turned left. The RYC followed 13th to M, and turned right, followed M to 12th and turned right, followed 12th to Massachusetts and turned left, followed Massachusetts to Mount Vernon and turned left, followed Mount Vernon to New York and turned right.)

The RYC followed 7th to the Mall. Many people joined the bloc from the sidewalks, and the march was 3 lanes wide and 170 meters long, probably growing to about 300 people given the earlier estimate. Another larger march joined the March from Pennsylvania from the west and the combined group was 6 lanes wide and well over 170 meters long (since the tail, if not most, of the second march, was hidden by the turn).

The RYC crossed Constitution Avenue about 12:41, later for the back of the march, and passed through the Mall. Many of the people who had joined from the sidewalks went into the crowds on the mall, and other people joined from the crowds on the mall. The RYC (so reinforced) crossed Independence and was 5 1/2 lanes wide and 100 meters long, probably back to very nearly 300 people given the first estimate.

The RYC followed 7th to Maryland and turned left, followed Maryland to 3rd, faced a line of police at 12:58 and turned left, and followed 3rd to Jefferson. The Capitol Police rushed to drive people from the lawn east of 3rd; the rest of the RYC and some of the crowd on the mall moved up to prevent the police from attacking or arresting anyone.

The Capitol Police were massively outnumbered and badly outflanked, so they withdrew behind the Reflecting Pool leaving some of their equipment behind. The protesters, now well-mixed between the RYC and others who had arrived from the mall, moved up to the reflecting pool.

The RYC was more-or-less dissolving into the larger crowd, perhaps 600 people here (having gone from about 3/4 in black to about 1/2 in black). There was a large SDS contingent (probably including some from the mall crowd - the SDS had two official meeting points) and several other anti-authoritarian/libertarian socialist contingents working together, as well as many other groups.

Some of those who had moved up, to the south of the RYC, moved into the gap between Maryland Avenue and the Reflecting Pool, which the police (whether for lack of time or lack of manpower) had not covered. The rest of the people in the larger group gradually followed, some on their own, some in groups as large as 100. Again and again, the protesters outflanked the police; again and again, the police fell back. By about 1:10 the police had retreated and the protesters had advanced to the Capitol steps. There was no fighting.

"Stop the funding, stop the war! What the hell is Congress for?"

More protesters trickled in over the next half-hour, so that about 1,000 people assembled west of the Capitol by about 1:40.

The SDS formed together and marched to the south entrance of the Capitol. At this point, the Capitol Police withdrew from 3rd and Pennsylvania. Soon there was a lively protest south of the Capitol, but there was little left west of the Capitol, and people were tricking from the Capitol to the mall as fast as they were trickling in from the Mall to the Capitol.

The SDS withdrew from the Capitol to 3rd and Jefferson at 1:58, and joined the UFPJ march, but left from 3rd and Madison at 2:54.

"SDS to the right! Literally, not figuratively!"

The SDS met and discussed their options east of 3rd and returned to the Capitol at 3:05. There were still many other protesters up there.

I lost track of the SDS's movements sometime later.





An Addendum on March Pacing

The times depend on multiple clocks so the distance/time figures are not entirely trustworthy. The UFPJ march, as far as I was there, averaged 0.2 km/h for 1 hour; the RYC march, from Dupont Circle to 3rd and Maryland, averaged 2.1 km/h for 2 hours; I usually walk 6.4 km/h for longer walks on flat ground, and others probably have similar paces. It seems that the larger the group, the slower it moves. Can anyone suggest ways to avoid this problem?