Situation Report: As Country Awaits Election Results, Black Bloc takes to D.C. Streets

As citizens were glued to their televisions awaiting the outcome of the presidential election, revolutionary forces were preparing to protest any outcome.

Around 4 PM Shutdown DC began encouraging protesters to arrive in Washington D.C’s Black Lives Matter Plaza. Online Antifa and anarchist social media from Portland to Boston began tweeting out instructions for last minute equipment checks, from testing respirators to stocking “go-bags.”

Black Lives Matter Plaza took on a carnival atmosphere. Go Go Bands performed from the back of a rented truck brought in by BLM DC, while Refuse Fascism (a branch of the Revolutionary Communist Party) delivered protest signs and other groups assembled materials.

Yet on the fringes of the plaza things quickly revealed a violent side. An early scuffle between protesters and police regarding the parking location of the rented truck led to several arrests. Another unidentified individual wearing a suit was assaulted, struck repeatedly, including with a bat, before being escorted out of the protest area.

By 9:30 PM the block party was over, as social media instructions from antifa DC websites directed members to dress in black and begin moving towards Thomas Circle, roughly half a mile away. According to reporters on the scene the black bloc formation eventually reached as many as 500. As the bloc formed up several videographers and reporters were assaulted, and others threatened, including British author Douglas Murray, who noted that many reporters seemed overly submissive to the group’s desires to suppress reporting.

At one point twenty antifa members reportedly sought to “hunt and kill” Blaze reporter Elijah Schaffer (who was successfully evacuated from the protest unharmed.)

The bloc moved away from Black Lives Matter Plaza and moved in a generally north by north east direction while shooting off fireworks. As the group reached residential neighborhoods, they began shining lasers and light strobes into residential windows. There was little indication of property destruction however. By 2:30 Am the march was directed to the D.C. 4^th Police Precinct, where a brief protest broke out focused on the recent death of 20 year old Karon Hylton, who died after being struck by a civilian motor vehicle during a police chase.

Overall, the D.C. protest was minimally destructive, with only a handful of arrests. Minor similar protests also took place in Portland, Seattle, and Los Angeles, with several others scheduled for the afternoon or evening of November 4^th.

Tomorrow beginning at 11 AM, Shutdown D.C. organizers say they intend to meet at Black Lives Matters Plaza and Union Station and promise to #DeliverDemocracy to organizations they accuse having “led the attacks on democracy”.