Occupy DC, a spin-off of the Occupy Wall Street movement that blanketed the nation’s capital with protests against big banks and corporate and lobbyist influence on government in 2011, celebrated its first anniversary with a “shut down K Street” march through downtown Washington this morning. The protest wound through the city and included stops at the offices of JP Morgan Chase, British Petroleum, corporate food giant Monsanto, and several development companies that have razed low-income housing projects in the city to build expensive condominiums and apartments.
Occupy DC protesters camped at McPherson Square park from October 1, 2011 to February 2012, when they were evicted by National Park Police. The park is still closed for restoration, but Occupy has remained active, protesting wrongful foreclosures on area homeowners.
Today’s protest had a less controversial atmosphere than those around the movement’s eviction earlier this year, as Metro Police supervised but remained largely uninvolved throughout. View pictures of the protest (click to enlarge):
Update:
Occupy DC also demonstrated at Bank of America locations across the city on Saturday, protesting the foreclosure of Rev. Robert Michael Vanzant’s home. Vanzant is credited with founding the first church in Washington to specifically serve LGBT people of color, but he could no longer work full time after suffering a stroke in 2008. Watch a video of highlights from Saturday’s protests: