Tonight, a group of about 20 D.C.-area libertarians headed down to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial for some flash mob fun. The prank was harmless revelry: To ring in Jefferson’s birthday, we would meet on the steps of the memorial at 11:55pm, wearing iPods, then dance for about 10 minutes, capture the whole thing on video, and leave.More here, and videos here.
Courtney and I were about 10 minutes late, but by the time we arrived it was already over. The National Park Police broke the whole thing up just a few minutes in, punctuating their lack of a sense of humor by arresting one of the dancers (we’re keeping her name private at least until she’s released later this morning). She was cuffed, taken out to a paddy wagon, then booked and held at a Park Police station. Everyone I spoke with says there was no noise, there were no threats, and no laws broken (the park police I spoke with–including the arresting officer (who, oddly enough, denied to me that he was the arresting officer)–declined to say why she had been arrested).
Quotes: "There is something wrong with America when we get thrown out of the Thomas Jefferson memorial when we are silent and peaceful and celebratory...Not exactly what's written on the walls."
It's so fucked up how paranoid and locked-down and nanny-statish this country has gotten. Sigh. I should spend my time working to fix it, not complaining...but it is good to have some motivation every now and then.
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Comments
Why not do it during the day?
"The public may visit the Thomas Jefferson Memorial 24 hours a day. However Rangers are on duty to answer questions from 9:30 am to 11:30 pm daily."
From http://www.nps.gov/thje/planyourvisit/h
The arrest is truly ironic IMO. And sad as well.
Thanks for pointing at this.
"Nanny state" is when it's supposedly for your own good perhaps with some hemi-demi-semi public interest, like you can't drive without your seatbelt because a) it's bad for you and b) other people will have to wasted time and effort scraping your innards off of your car. So you get a ticket.
"Police state" is when you do something just slightly out of the ordinary and they arbitrarily push you around because they're the police and shut up already with your questions and your "rights" -- you're going to jail because we say so, like in the story you're describing.
P.S. Wow! I just read the story. I had only read your blog post when I wrote the preceding. I used the term "shut up already with your questions" out of my prior sense of what bullying police are like. From reading the post, it seems like *that's nearly exactly what the police motivation was, down to the words used*, if the blogger is speaking truthfully.