WASHINGTON — Marchers arrived in D.C. Friday for a protest planned by the organizers of January’s Women’s March on Washington. The demonstrations began on Friday night and will end on Saturday.
This one, described as a nonviolent mass demonstration, is aimed at the National Rifle Association.
It’s a response to a video that the NRA put out in April called “The Violence of Lies,” which criticizes violent protests like the ones in D.C. on Inauguration Day.
In the video, NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch says: “The only way we stop this, the only way we save our country and our freedom, is to fight this violence of lies with a clenched fist of truth.”
The co-president of the Women’s March, Tamika Mallory, called on the NRA to take the video down and apologize.
Mallory argues in a letter that “it suggests armed violence against communities of color, progressives and anyone who does not agree with this Administration’s policies.”
The NRA refused the demand.
The “Women’s March from #NRA2DOJ” began with a rally Friday at 10 a.m., at NRA headquarters in Fairfax.
At noon, protesters began an 18-mile march to the Department of Justice, in D.C.
They arrived at night, where they rallied before dispersing.
Saturday morning at 10, the group plans to return to the DOJ building for another rally and vigil.
Between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, police said, drivers should expect delays in the 800 and 900 blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue in Northwest.
The D.C. police said drivers should expect single-lane closings related to the event starting Friday night.
Here is the planned route of the march in D.C.:
- Head northeast on the Francis Scott Key Bridge to M Street NW
- East on M Street NW to Pennsylvania Avenue NW
- Southeast on Pennsylvania Avenue NW to 17th Street NW
- South on 17th Street NW to Pennsylvania Avenue NW
- East on Pennsylvania Avenue NW to 15th Street NW
- South on 15th Street NW to Pennsylvania Avenue NW
- East on Pennsylvania Avenue NW to 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
