Washington DC Protestors lay seige to US Capitol, smash window at military recruiter

At the start of the march I joked that SDS, the organizers, would have to "make their bones or leave their bones." Well, they've made their mark in a big way today!

The march from Dupont Circle started out with 150 people or so, but grew as reinforcing contingents joined in at seveal points. In front were "tower" shields like those used by Roman soldiers or riot cops today.

We passed through the shopping area in Chinatown on the way to the Capitol, and all the yuppies there wer reminded that children are being killed in Iraq while they shop and dine.

The real action begain at the US Capitol, where Congressional Democrats are trying to shirk their responsabiity to block the surge, cut off funding for the war, and impeach buth Bush and Cheney. These are the things they were elected to do, ant ALL parts of today's action are a reminder that they had better get in the fight.

At the Capitol, police tried to block anyone from going past Third St, but were quickly bypassed by goign between parked cars. Capitol police then tried to hold the line, but a bulge formed and their lines collapsed under the sheer weight of hundreds of furious people with tower shields in front.

The cops were pused back, the crowd turned the corner and flanked them, and finally they abandoned the reflecting pool and fell back to 1st st. The crowd soon followed, and police lines wer pushed back again, with resistance stiffenign at the Capitol steps. We got the plaza ther but no further-so people flanked out again, finally laying seige to the south entrance(House side) of the Capitol.

Here things stabilized, and eventually marchers moved on as the main march got going.

It appeared that when the main march lead elements got back to the mall, others were still elaving the mall, thus surrounding the entire US capitol with hundreds of thousands of protestors. This in combination with the earlier action amounted to a true seige of Capitol Hill!

When the main march ended, anticapitalist proestors moved back into the streets of NW, and decided to protest at the military recruiters at 14th and L sts. Once there, someone threw a rock, smashing the recruiter's window damned good.

At this point, cops boiled up like angry hornets-onloy to be told by someone that mass arrests wer out of the question. Nobody was arrested but several people were punched.

AN INDEPENDANT REPORTER WAS PUNCHED IN THE FACE BY A COPT FOR TAKING NOTES ON THIS INCIDENT-interview included in the audio piece.

Unable to make mass arrests after setting their perimeter, cops had to let everyone elave, at which point people headed back to the Mall-and again to the US Capitol.

At the Capitol for the second time, there were repeated threats of mass arrest, and people wer forced off the Capitol grounds, but no arrests reported as of 6PM Jan 27.

This is but a tiny taste of what will happen if the tens of millions of people who voted NO on Republican rule in November are betrayed by Nancy Pelosi or Hillery Clinton.

WE'LL BE BACK!

AUDIO:

First piece is stirring "New Hope-Surge of Resistance" intro

Second piece is Seige of the Capitol coverage

Third is coverage of the march on the recruiting center