Inauguration Mystery: What Caused The Mayhem On The Mall?

Mayhem broke out on Tuesday for the thousands of campaign organizers, Hill staff, and ordinary Americans who held tickets to Tuesday's inauguration. Scores of people with tickets were turned away from the Mall, and many spent the morning waiting underground in the "Purple Tunnel of Doom." Were you there?

The Huffington Post is trying to piece together a detailed account of exactly how the chaos began, and how it grew. Why were the lines for purple and blue ticketholders such a mess? When and why did Silver ticketholders cross the barriers and stream into other sections of the Mall? We're looking for details from ticket holders who had a particularly difficult time getting into the event, or who never made it in at all.

In order to help us create a timeline of events, please provide as many specific details as you can remember, including the rough times of any events mentioned in your accounts. Send your pieces to [e-mail].

The U.S. Secret Service has now launched an investigation into conditions on the Mall, but most people who were impacted still don't know for certain what went wrong, so please let us know if you can shed any light on why this happened.

We are trying to publish this story as soon as possible, so please get your submissions in by 5pm this afternoon. The sooner you can send us your account, the more likely it will be used. Send your insight into the mayhem to [e-mail].

Comments

[Nightwing69]

My question to the Capitol Police, the Metro Police and to the PIC volunteers­..."Where'­s Rita?" I started out my journey at 7:00 a.m. on 3rd St. by the Silver Section, where a Capitol Police Officer told me that I couldn't cross over to Constitution from there (I discovered later from some other Purple Ticket holders that they indeed did cross over at 3rd Street). The officer told me emphatically (and a bit nastily) that I had to go to 6th St. to cross over in order to reach the Purple Gate. Well...I arrived at 6th St., where another Capitol Police Officer told me I couldn't cross over at that location, and that had to go down to 14th to cross to go up Constitution to get to the Purple Ticket Holder gate.

[Nightwing69]

A young man, Kyle, who had flew in from London to Louisiana, took a bus from Louisiana to Baltimore, and who had left Baltimore at 3:00 a.m. to get to the Inauguration, joined me in my walk to 14th St. When we arrived someplace close to 6th and Constitution, we encountered our first PIC volunteer of the day. The volunteer emphatically (and a bit angrily) told us that we had to return to the 3rd Street Silver Entrance to get to the Purple Section, as the Purple Gate was closed, and that we wouldn't be allowed in. As we tried to return to the 3rd Street Silver Section, Capitol Police and Metro Police, who told us that every venue leading to the 3rd Street Silver Section was closed, turned us away at some point. That's when we met Rita, a 50ish woman who had flew in from Inglewood, California for the Inauguration, who also had a purple ticket, and who also didn't know what to do or where to go. So, she joined us. Rita was very, very tired, and walked pretty slowly...I held her hand throughout much of our journey, and Kyle and I tried to keep her flagging spirits up as much as possible.

[Nightwing69]

We walked, and walked, and walked...w­e finally ran into some PIC volunteers who told us that the Purple Gate WOULD BE OPENED at 11:00 a.m.we just had to get there. We passed through a security gate (where Rita, unfortunately, was rushed through and lost her eyeglasses), and headed up Pennsylvania Avenue...w­here we found out that we couldn't cross UNTIL 11:00 a.m. We waited...a­nd waited...a­nd waited. We finally were allowed to cross, and made our way up to a Purple Gate...and met about 2,000 people waiting at that gate to get in. No luck. So, we proceeded up to 1st Street, where we also saw thousands of folks who couldn't get in. I had to use the restroom there were a sparse amount of port-o-potties along our route, and none at our last stop. When I returned, I couldn’t find Rita or Kyle.

[Nightwing69]

I walked for FIVE HOURS, always directed by and following the directions of the Capitol Police, the Metro Police and PIC volunteers. Kyle flew in from LONDON, and had been there for about SEVEN HOURS. Rita, who seemed to not know the D.C. at all and who flew in from Inglewood, CA, had been there for at least FIVE HOURS. And for what? For the Capitol Police, the Metro Police and PIC volunteers to snarl at us all day and give us incorrect information at EACH AND EVERY TURN?

[Nightwing69]

To add injury to insult, the Capitol Police Chief LIED about what went on? And some other fool (Gainer) basically told the 5,000 or more of us who had come here specifically to attend the Inauguration to "get over it?"

The Capitol Police, the Metro Police and the PIC volunteers DID A LOUSY, PATHETIC, EMBARRASSING, INCOMPETENT JOB. Who will hold them accountable? A mere apology from them at this point is as bogus as their collective incompetence

[Nightwing69]

And this lame, woeful, and wholly inadequate "apology" from the organizing committee? Do they have ANY IDEA WHATSOEVER how harmful and pain inducing their actions and inactions were to thousands of people? Do they have ANY IDEA WHATSOEVER how many U.S. Citizens (and foreign visitors) flew to D.C., spent a ton of money and waited all damn day in the cold just to end up walking away from HISTORY???

However, the most horrifying thing to me is that I don't know what happened to Rita. She was alone, extremely tired, lost, hungry and confused. Kyle seemed like a wonderful and honorable young man, but I nevertheless wonder...w­here's Rita?

[Radiocheck]

Did anyone else hear about this? My daughter’s friend met someone at Maryland House on I95 who said they drove down from New Jersey and arrived at 4 a.m. Although they did not have tickets, they were allowed to enter the orange area where they stood immediately behind the seats. They reported that this practice continued in the orange and blue areas until 5:30 a.m.
We were in the blue line and never got in. Everyone in the line was really pleasant even when we realized we had no way to get in and it was too late to go somewhere else and see the inauguration. The only incident occurred when a couple hundred of us who had been holding on to a railing found ourselves on a grassy area because the railing suddenly gave out and we continued to walk forward. We went through trees into people standing closer to the checkpoint. They started yelling, but the whole thing dissipated pretty quickly.
I'm ecstatic that Obama is our President. I don't blame anybody, I just feel a huge sense of personal loss. I'll get over it. It's bittersweet to be happy about an outcome even though we missed the opportunity to contemporaneously experience one of the defining moments in human history.

[MarkfromCT]

I was at the inauguartion, in the non-ticketed area. My experience was quite different.­..yes, there were alot of people, but no real issues in the security or the access. I had a minor snafu for the We are One concert...­being directed to go to one gate only to find it closed...b­ut nothing that caused any real problems. The subway was very crowded, but orderly, even after a detour around L'enfant Plaza

Maybe I was lucky, perhaps so. I will have to say that every person, security, park police, metro workers, etc. were helpful and cheerful

I watched everything on the Jumbotrons which, to some people, may have been an inferior experience. However, I was very content being amongst all the happy people watching history being made.

[GhostwriterDoF]

The people got drunk on Freedom? I guess it made a bit of a mess...

[Patty Rogers]

We had silver tickets and getting to the gate was very difficult. A policeman at 14th street told us not to even bother, all ticket areas were full already that people had laid claim to these spaces having camped out since 3am. He was obviously not informed. That was about 9:30am.

When we arrived at the silver gate they weren't letting anyone in we waited in a huge mass for at least an hour. We could hear the pre-programming and didn't think we would make it. Suddenly, we were in. No crowds once in, no hold up in long security screening lines. No obvious reason for the hold up. After we were in there was space to move about and room for a lot more people. The silver section consists of 2 spaces, didn't expect to be able to walk between them but we were able to with a policeman at the crossing point and I was even more surprised to find that the closer area was not full either. We walked about halfway around the pool before it became too crowded and we returned to a more comfortable spot behind it.

I hadn't heard about the silver ticket holders going into the blue or purple ticket areas. If this is what happened it would explain a lot. It would have then made sense to let the purple and blue ticket holders into the silver area. Not as good, but at least they would not have been left out.

[friskee1]

little reality check here folks, anybody whose from dc can tell you that dc was never ready for a crowd like that. the mall in particular isn't meant to hold 2 million people. so yeah, some folks got shut out even when they had tickets. the train stations were crowded(especially at new carrollton) and it was a nightmare getting to some of the balls. jus be glad that you got to be a part of history in getting obama elected.

[T2inDC]

"Little reality check here folks??? friskee1 where you there? Did you spend 5 hours in the purple tunnel? You have NO idea the magnitude of this situation.

I don't want to read another comment from anyone that did not experience this situation personally. Got it!?

Only by the grace of the spirit of those in attendence was there not a disaster. The situation created by the organizers could have easily lead to loss of life. Panic, a stampede, one person going down in a massive surge. That didn't happen because of the spirit that day. They will discover 50,000+ of ticketed persons in blue, purple and silver never got into the event. A complete failure.

[mdmurphyla]

I have an idea of the magnitude of the situation: YOU WERE WARNED THIS WOULD HAPPEN. We have been told about these crowds since election day, and yet you decided you would go anyway. That is fine, but you knew this would happen. Get some perspective and listen to President Obama, we have to make some sacrifices and in this world you arent always going to get what you want. You are disappointed, that is understandable. But stop making this out like a crime has been committed. A city was reasonably unprepared for the onslaught of 2 million people. Nothing happened, no injuries, no arrests, no big deal.

Move on.

Focus on the important things. This, is not important.

People losing their jobs at a rate of a half a million a month. THAT is important. People losing their homes at historically high rates. THAT is important. Billions of dollars handed out to banks during the end of the Bush administration with no accountability. IMPORTANT. We are occupying Iraq. VERY VERY IMPORTANT. . . . do I need to go on? I could. I really really could.

[Veneita]

I was at the gate on 9th streed on the PA ave side and it took ticket holders.

[Veneita]

I didn't have a ticket but was pissed that ticket holders kept coming to our gate to cut line. I'll tell you what happened. The entry process did not get started on time (over an hour late at our gate) leading to backup. Ticket holders expected to not have to wait in line at all when they should have been queing up early like everyone else. And this was more of a control action (I felt like I was being caged) rather than an admissions process. Despite what Fenty said, DC was NOT ready. I could have done a better job.

[Solja]

Rachel Maddow reported on this last night (I believe it was.) on her show. She said there's a myspace/twitter site set up just for these ticket holders.

[T2inDC]

facebook site too. Purple tunnel of doom.

[neve]

I truly feel for folks who had tickets and for a variety of reasons could not get in, but... The inaugeral organizers warned that it was going to be too many people. I live in DC, and I and family went out to the mall Tuesday morning. While it wasn't "mayhem" the number of people there was overwhelming, and though we were seasoned Washingtonians used to protest crowds AND knew the area, it WAS intimidating. We went home and watched on TV. Given the number of folks, it is a blessing that there were no serious injuries.

[SurrealPumpkin]

Also, no arrests!