Numbers of People 912 March on DC 2009
Numbers
912 March on DC 2009
About the number of people marching on Washington yesterday. On the streets we heard numbers like 1.5 million people. How many, truly, were there, without someone using a proven method for determining this, may never be published. What I witnessed was that coming in on the Metrorail from the furthest station away (Shady Grove) the cars of the train were packed like sardines in a can. When we exited the station at 9 a.m. and walked down 13th St.and around to Pennsylvania Ave, I started to cry as I saw people -- people everywhere-- and the march had started 9/12ers from PA knew (from a phone call while we were on the bus driving down) that our place to assemble had been moved to in front of the Washington Monument because Freedom Plaza (original spot) had run out of room, but when we got to Pennsylvania Avenue, it was obvious that the March, scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. with people marching together by state (at least for those associated with a group), must have begun spontaneously as the sheer numbers of people had to flow somewhere. Sam and I quickly abandoned any plan of going towards the Monument and just joined in. We couldn’t believe how many people there were. We walked from 12th Street towards the Capitol, and at 3d Street, we were turned right and walked in front of the Capitol. The area from 3rd Street up to the Capitol Steps was already filled with people and the lawn of the Ellipse that stretches back to the Washington Monument, the other side of 15th Street, was starting to fill in. We stayed in that general area most of the day. By mid-afternoon, people up at the Capitol, who could see, were reporting that the masses of people stretched all the way back to the Monument. At one point, we wanted to get off our feet and went to a grassy area, near the extremely long row of porta potties where many, like ourselves, had an hour wait to use one. While relaxing there around 1 pm, people were still marching down Pennsylvania Avenue!
Was it possible to believe there were a million people there? Yes. How many people does it take to fill the grounds from Capitol to Monument? That’s a 15-long, city-block area; and, people were spread out in other places as well.
I know what crowds of people in the tens of thousands up to 60-80,000 look like from Creation Festivals we’ve gone to, and this certainly appeared to be more than that.
912 March on DC 2009
About the number of people marching on Washington yesterday. On the streets we heard numbers like 1.5 million people. How many, truly, were there, without someone using a proven method for determining this, may never be published. What I witnessed was that coming in on the Metrorail from the furthest station away (Shady Grove) the cars of the train were packed like sardines in a can. When we exited the station at 9 a.m. and walked down 13th St.and around to Pennsylvania Ave, I started to cry as I saw people -- people everywhere-- and the march had started 9/12ers from PA knew (from a phone call while we were on the bus driving down) that our place to assemble had been moved to in front of the Washington Monument because Freedom Plaza (original spot) had run out of room, but when we got to Pennsylvania Avenue, it was obvious that the March, scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. with people marching together by state (at least for those associated with a group), must have begun spontaneously as the sheer numbers of people had to flow somewhere. Sam and I quickly abandoned any plan of going towards the Monument and just joined in. We couldn’t believe how many people there were. We walked from 12th Street towards the Capitol, and at 3d Street, we were turned right and walked in front of the Capitol. The area from 3rd Street up to the Capitol Steps was already filled with people and the lawn of the Ellipse that stretches back to the Washington Monument, the other side of 15th Street, was starting to fill in. We stayed in that general area most of the day. By mid-afternoon, people up at the Capitol, who could see, were reporting that the masses of people stretched all the way back to the Monument. At one point, we wanted to get off our feet and went to a grassy area, near the extremely long row of porta potties where many, like ourselves, had an hour wait to use one. While relaxing there around 1 pm, people were still marching down Pennsylvania Avenue!
Was it possible to believe there were a million people there? Yes. How many people does it take to fill the grounds from Capitol to Monument? That’s a 15-long, city-block area; and, people were spread out in other places as well.
I know what crowds of people in the tens of thousands up to 60-80,000 look like from Creation Festivals we’ve gone to, and this certainly appeared to be more than that.
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