But on the same day, Occupy D.C. received a major boost from organized labor when the Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO approved a resolution calling on unions to treat encampments like a picket line.
“Protest movements, like strike lines and organizing campaigns, do not have curfews and are not 9 to 5 activities,” the resolution states. “And in doing so, we recognize and will work to protect the right for occupiers to protest 24 hours a day, on-site, with proper protection, including food, medical supplies, water and tents.”
In the final hours of their march, the protesters said the key to the movement’s success will be continued outreach to people in small towns and cities, similar to those they passed through on the way to the District.
“The focus is just not about the metropolitan cities anymore,” said Bo Han, 29, who quit his job as a waiter in Atlanta to move to New York to participate in the protest. “There will be marches all across the country. . . . There are people who joined us for just one mile on the march.”
Eric Carter, 30, a native of Southeast Washington, also walked the entire route, leaving his job as a medic in New Orleans to go to New York.
Carter spent the past 11 days tending to other marchers’ feet, examining or bandaging as many as 10 pairs a day. He said he considers the march a success, regardless of what now transpires in the District. Although the marchers occasionally encountered “hostile turf” — where “get a job” was a common refrain — Carter said most people were “super nice.”
“I think people have been waiting for this movement,” Carter said. “For the first time, we can have a conversation that is not about how to fix the government, but about what kind of government we want to see.”
Staff writers Elizabeth Flock and Robert Samuels contributed to this report.
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