With shouts of "Occupy K Street!" protesters on a rainy Wednesday afternoon blocked parts of the Washington thoroughfare that is home to many of the city's lobbying firms, snarling traffic and drawing a strong police presence.
D.C. police arrested at least 11 protesters for obstructing a public highway, according to police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump. Some 36 demonstrators lay in a pedestrian crosswalk that traverses K Street N.W. at its intersection with 14th Street N.W. Demonstrators who gathered near the intersection chanted, “The whole world is watching!” and other slogans as officers picked protesters up from the street and led them away in plastic restraints.
The K Street demonstration was part of a “day of action against the undue influence of money in politics,” according to the Occupy D.C. Web site. The group described the K Street protest as a “block party.”
“The merriment will be similar to that of the parties at which lobbyists and politicians wine and dine each other,” the site says. A call and e-mail left with the group’s press office were not immediately returned.
Lobbyists with offices within a few blocks of 14th and K streets said the episode hadn’t disrupted their work. Christopher Rissetto, co-chairman of the Reed Smith’s public policy and infrastructure practice, said he still managed to have lunch with a client at D.C. Coast at 1401 K Street N.W., which is about a block from his office.
“It really had no direct bearing on what I did,” Rissetto said.
Photos by National Law Journal staff reporter Andrew Ramonas
Comments