Last week, Medea Benjamin, head of the radical anti-war group Code Pink, was arrested along with Adam Kokesh for dancing at the Jefferson Memorial. On June 4, 2011, she returned to hold a ‘free speech dancing demonstration’, so we sent Joe Schoffstall to check it out.
During the protest, the group claimed they were trying to ‘praise’ Thomas Jefferson. However, it was clear given the group’s history- and the events that happened just days before- they wanted to draw attention to their organization.
While the scene played perfectly into the script they were going for- minus arrests- it did leave some tourists unable to view the monument and the participants very happy with themselves. A documentary film crew there captured the whole thing, including our interviews with police on why tourists weren’t allowed re-entry after leaving the memorial.
Medea was not arrested this time and it was better organized than their first go-around. Police ended up blocking off the memorial and not allowing re-entry for about an hour until the group cleared out.
Here’s what we saw during the protest: