On the 19th of February, two women with a banner disrupted Mayor Bowser's ceremonial appearance at the start of demolition of part of the old St Elizebeth's psychiatric hospital. They were able to get behind the Mayor's podium and shout her down before being dragged away by dozens of men. The banner included a specific reference to "Occupy Barry Farms," another site developers and the city government are chomping at the bit to displace and gentrify.
on Feb 15, Valentine's Day, animal rights activists distributed hundreds of valentines to Skanska executives and their neighbors, asking that construction company Skanska USA drop their contract with University of Washington to build an underground "primate reseach center" or vivisection lab.
Here is DC Stampede's posting on this:
Three northern Virginia Skanska executives were very popular this Valentine’s Day! They and over a hundred of their neighbors received valentines, calling on them to let the animals into their hearts this year.
On the 17th of February, FOX News pre-empted the crime coverage that usually starts their broadcast to focus on furious upscale residents at a Van Ness community meeting. The subject was Mayor Bowser's proposal to locate one of 8 dispersed homeless shelters in their neighborhood. Objections to opening a homeless shelter in upscale neighborhoods like anywhere in Ward 1 are usually based in NIMBYism (not in my back yard) fortified with an unhealthy heap of racism.
On the 12th of January, Real Food Challenge marched to the Baltimore office of Rep Elijah Cummings. A delegation met with Rep Cummings, who until now had not made any public commitments concerning this ugly repeat of NAFTA. Asked to take a stand, Rep Cummings told the delegation he was opposed to the TPP or Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. This statement may cost him corporate donations but will win him votes.
On the 25th of January, many residents in MD were still unable to reach the main roads using their cars. Side streets were not plowed, only packed down by passing SUV's. While cars often could not get out using their tracks, bicycles could, and once the main roads were reached could be ridden almost as in normal conditions. Politicians like Muriel Bowser are still asking people to stay home.
On the 21st of January, opponents of Bank of America's investments in Dominion's fracked gas export facility at Cove Point showed up at the branch across the street from the White House. Some of them were from Lusby in Calvert County, in the area an accident at the gas plant could incinerate. When one of the activists tried to deliver a letter to the bank manager, the bank refused to accept it and locked their doors in response to several more activists going inside.
On the 15th of January, the Washington Post announced that Wal-Mart is canceling plans to build a "super-center" in SE at the proposed Skyland eminent domain project and in NE at Capitol Gateway.
On the 13th of January, the Washington Post announced that Virgina school officials plan to close the schools during the March 1 "Super Tuesday" presidential primary. This is due to fear that Donald Trump supporters may react with violence to the state GOP's requirement that voters wanting a GOP ballot attest that they are Republicans. Donald Trump has been unique among all candidates in the 2016 Presidential race in endorsing violence against Black Lives Matter protesters and other enemies of his racist, xenophobic campaign.
On the 27th of December, sportbike, dirtbike, and even a few ATV riders staged something rather like a Critical Mass bicycle ride on the Capitol Beltway in PG County. For years police have been harassing African-American riders of the dirt bikes and ATV's, now they find Mad Max is a game two can play. The massive swarm took over all lanes of the southbound Beltway, alternately blocking and riding with traffic. Police batted zero, with every last rider escaping. Police cars have no more ability to kettle high performance motorcycles than airliners do to kettle fighter jets.
On the 14th of December, the National Park Service issued a press release claiming to have shot and killed 26 deer in Rock Creek Park in a one-night operation. That would have to have been Dec 7, when they shut down operations in the face of protesters setting up. Either they shot deer earlier in the evening to evade protests or they waited out protesters and post-protest patrols, then returned.
On Black Friday, the 27th of November, the in-store protest at Miller's Furs ended in a police attack on the protesters. Two were handcuffed and two more were detained. Three escaped the scene entirely, as police arrived well after protesters had exited the store and as they were leaving the entire area. A total of 12 police cars showed up with sirens screaming. During the detainment, one of the cops mentioned having received a report that protesters were smashing windows at the store. None were broken or even hit in reality.
On the evening of Black Friday, November 27, Direct Action Everywhere protested inside the Tenleytown Whole Foods. They were protesting fake "cruelty free" turkeys being sold sometimes at triple digit prices to Whole Foods customers.
The 27th of November was Black Friday, known to animal rights activists as Fur Free Friday. This year, activists managed to march through both Neiman-Marcus in DC and Miller's Furs a little over a mile north of DC in Maryland. At Miller's Furs things got a bit rough, first with the store owner freaking out, then police cars with sirens screaming roaring up to activists as they were leaving the area. Although the protesters were detained none were arrested.
On the 20th of November, three separate Muslim rallies took place in DC. A small rally at the Lincoln Memorial and a very large march to the White House directly protested ISIS/Daesh. Many in the larger protest has US flags, reminescent of the 2006 immigrant rights protests. With politicians calling for blocking refugees from entire states and even a call for internment camps on the table, this is a reminder that the global Muslim community does not support Daesh and in fact that most of those murdered by Daesh are Muslims.
Skanska is a massive multinational construction company that is building a new animal "research" lab for University of Washington. On the morning of Saturday, November 14, activists from the No New Animal Lab campaign showed up at the Stanton, Va home of Stephen Skinner, Executive VP and General Manager of Skanska’s DC office. Grumpy neighbors responded with angry counter-chants while calling the cops and even trying to directly disrupt the protest.
The government of Saudi Arabia has sentenced Ali-Mohammed al-Nimr to death by beheading followed by crucifixion of his body for participationg in anti-regime protests in 2012 at the age of 17. Six other young men face similar sentences. All of al-Nimr's appeals have been exhausted. Around the world, protesters mobilized at Saudi embassies. One of these protests began at the Saudi Embassy here in DC and marched to the White House.
On the 8th of November, reports emerged on Twitter that DC police from the 7D station shined lights into an activist home in Anacostia, and screamed at the women inside. Two cops showed up and shined lights into the house, then started screaming threats when asked why they were doing this.
Sometime over the Halloween weekend (also known as Earth Night), animal rights activsts redecorated banners on the fence of a Skanska construction site in DC. They added a reminder that Skanska is also building an underground animal testing/torture lab for the University of Wisconsin. This communique was sent anonymously to the http://nonewanimallab.com website: Activists paid a visit to a Skanska construction site in Washington, D.C.
On Halloween night, protests at the neo-Nazi National Policy Institute convention continued until the Nazis had to leave. At arount 10PM, all of the Nazis tried to flank the protesters by going around to the F st doors while protesters were on 14th st. Protesters saw this developing and charged over, getting there first. The resulting situation drew bike cops. Meanwhile, a few activists were still on 14th st. A white supremacist named Sam Dixon, former lawyer for the KKK, asked the police to arrest Sima for wearing a mask-and they complied.The F st situation was interesting.
On Halloween, the 31st of October, the neo-Nazi American Policy Institute (NPI) Convention met at the National Press Club. Many well-known white supremacists were in attendance. To get in, they had to run a gauntlet of anti-racist protesters who not only called them out on their racism but also sprayed them down with Silly String. Later, one of the Nazis was observed smoking next to the Press Club's sign "no smoking within 25 feet of entrance" sign.