The January 27, 2007 anti-war protest was an anti-war march sponsored by United for Peace and JusticeinWashington, D.C. The official event consisted of a rally and march at the United States Capitol.
At the protest, it was announced that at least 500,000 attended to the protest, according to aerial photography estimates. Associated Press, however, reported that the march drew "tens of thousands".[1]
Ablack bloc, organized by Students for a Democratic Society, and advertised as a "radical youth bloc" on the DC Indymedia site,[2] met at Dupont Circle to begin a feeder march to the main rally site on the National Mall. The march from Dupont Circle to the National Mall roughly followed Massachusetts Avenue NW to its intersection with 7th Street NW near the Washington Convention Center and then on 7th Street through Chinatown and the Penn Quarter prior to reaching the National Mall. The feeder march continued past the back of the mainstream rally on 7th Street, and onto Maryland Avenue SW, before briefly stopping at 3rd Street, at roughly the center line of the Mall.[3]
United States Capitol Police stopped the SDS feeder march near the corner of 3rd and Maryland. As the march turned north, police blocked protesters who walked onto the Capitol lawn. Other protesters, both from the march and on the Mall, moved up in support. The Capitol police moved back to the Capitol building. Some participants in this group left graffiti on the Capitol grounds.[4]
In the late afternoon, approximately 30 demonstrators marched to the Armed Forces Recruiting Center on 14th Street. The window at the recruitment center and the window of a Fox News van were smashed,[citation needed][5] and the demonstrators dispersed soon afterward.
Acounter-protest, which was organized by Free Republic, drew approximately 30 people in the vicinity. Organizers of the counter-protest claimed that anti-war efforts hurt the U.S.-led war on terror.[1]
