Protesters dance from Trump Hotel to White House

Signs during the WERK for Peace protest in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. (WTOP/Michelle Basch)
Signs during the WERK for Peace protest in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. (WTOP/Michelle Basch)
Protester speaks in front of the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. (WTOP/Michelle Basch) (WTOP/Michelle Basch)
Signs of protest during the WERK for Peace protest Friday, Feb. 3, 2017, against the president's temporary travel ban. (WTOP/Michelle Basch)
Signs of protest during the WERK for Peace protest Friday, Feb. 3, 2017, against the president’s temporary travel ban. (WTOP/Michelle Basch)
Organizers play dance music, Friday, Feb. 3, 2017, from the seven countries affected by the president’s temporary travel ban. (WTOP/Michelle Basch) (WTOP/Michelle Basch)
WERK for Peace protesters dance to Madonna’s “Vogue” on their way from the Trump International Hotel to the White house Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. (WTOP/Michelle Basch) (WTOP/Michelle Basch)
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Signs during the WERK for Peace protest in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. (WTOP/Michelle Basch)
Signs of protest during the WERK for Peace protest Friday, Feb. 3, 2017, against the president's temporary travel ban. (WTOP/Michelle Basch)

WASHINGTON — It was not your average protest in D.C. Friday.

A group that uses dance to promote peace organized a dance party that started outside the Trump International Hotel and ended near the White House.

The WERK for Peace event was a response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

“We occupy space today with our bodies, because an attack on any one of our communities is an attack on all of us,” organizer Firas Nasr told a crowd that appeared to number between 200 and 300.

“We are here to show the new administration how much resistance they are going to get if they start messing with our rights,” said protester Emory Basso.

The group blasted music from the back of a pickup truck decorated with a “Dance Trumps Hate” banner, and peaceful protesters danced behind it in the street along parts of Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th Street Northwest.

The soundtrack for the event included songs from the seven countries targeted by the president’s temporary travel ban.

Some people carried signs that read “Congress Needs Extreme Vetting,” “I Welcome Refugees” and “Where’s the White Man Ban?”

WERK for Peace is the same group that held a “Queer Dance Party” near Vice President Mike Pence‘s rented home shortly before the inauguration.

Michelle Basch

Michelle Basch is a reporter turned morning anchor at WTOP News.

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