Counterprotests

I went to Washington DC's counterprotests organized against the Alt-Right folks who created such chaos and mayhem a year ago in Charlottesville. 

Doing so was a bit different from other protests I've attended because there was such a high expectation of potential violence. To wit, I struck up a conversation with a young lady who was walking to the meeting point for the protests.  She showed me her thigh: she had penned on it her husband's cell phone number "just in case..." she said.

It turns out that everything went very smoothly.  The gathered crowds numbering about 3-4,000 were loud, committed but also 'behaved.' All sorts of causes were represented, with BLM the strongest showing. Two things helped. 1. The nation's law & order forces were out in numbers and very professional (no incidents to report, other than heat exhaustion for some participants).  Since my days working on emergency management, and thus closely with police, I've been impressed by their ability to manage crowds effectively.

And then 2. The Alt-Righters numbered only about 30 people, wearing MAGA hats, huddled together in a tight little group, and kept very, very far away from the counter protesters. I think the message came through loud and clear. I hope it didn't fall on deaf ears...

I had many interesting conversations with the many participants I photographed (my collection is on FB) and I'm very glad I went :)