Jefferson Memorial Flash Mob Arrested For Dancing, Protesting Court Ruling (VIDEO)

U.S. Park Police arrested five people on Saturday at the Jefferson Memorial. Their offense? Dancing.

The dancers were protesting an appeals court ruling handed down last week that the national monuments are places for reflection and contemplation -- and that dancing distracted from such an experience.

In 2008, Mary Brooke Oberwetter and a group of friends went to the Jefferson to commemorate the president's 265th birthday by dancing silently, while listening to music on headphones. Park Police ordered the revelers to disperse and arrested them when they did not.

Oberwetter sued on free speech grounds, but the appeals court ruled last week that her conduct was indeed prohibited "because it stands out as a type of performance, creating its own center of attention and distracting from the atmosphere of solemn commemoration" that Park Service regulations are designed to preserve.

Whereas Oberwetter and her friends visited the Jefferson near midnight, Saturday's protest was staged during the day, on Memorial Day weekend, in order to draw maximum attention. The organizers issued a public call for photographers and videographers to document the event, and the inevitable arrests (watch below).

According to Dcist, the dancers were charged with demonstrating without a permit and released.

WATCH:

Comments

[wavesofgreen]

06:15 PM on 06/25/2011

As a civil rights attorney I have to say that I don't think a "no dancing at the memorial" rule is so offensive to the First Amendment that it signals the end of free expression as we know it. That being said, it is obviously somewhere along a slippery slope to "shut up and don't protest in public." This case will likely end up in federal court as a First Amendment test case. My guess is that the policy will either struck down or, if upheld, it will be upheld in a decision that will be highly fact specific; with adequate language to assure that the right to protest on public property is preserved. By the way, as to the Fourth Amendment use of force issues, I would have to say that most of the police conduct appeared to be reasonable. The exceptions are the detention and cuffing of the first couple which was possibly without warning, the point when the man on the ground is told to "stop resisting" (that is pretty much code for 'Im beating someone without justification') and the orders to stop filming.

[patrick currin]

06:25 AM on 06/09/2011

The most important protests are the ones that don't matter much. We had a war or three, there are no more protests because protests don't work anymore. These young people decided to make fun of the real children, the park police and robed clowns defending THEIR OWN idea of America. That the newer folks around have a better and more centered gyroscope for fun, freedom and what matters, really sticks in their collective traditional craws, but can't muzzle their conservative throats. The whole point is this

IF YOU CAN'T DANCE AT THE MEMORIAL PARK WITHOUT A PERMIT, THEN SOMEONE CAN COME INTO YOUR HOUSE AND TELL YOU TO STOP NEXT YEAR.THEY CAN TAKE YOUR PORN, THEY CAN TAKE YOUR GUNS, THEY CAN TAKE YOUR CHILDREN, AND ALL BECAUSE WE DIDN'T PUT THE FEAR OF GOD IN THE !@#$ING PARK SERVICE WHEN THEY STARTED CHIPPING AWAY AT OUR SELF APPOINTED RIGHTS AND WELL ENSHRINED RIGHTS TO DO AS WE PLEASE PROVIDED NO ONE ELSE IS HURT. WHEN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WAKES UP AND GETS BACK TO BASIC RIGHTS THEY WILL BE ABLE TO GOVERN AGAIN.

[Elliot Waite]

04:03 PM on 06/07/2011

Dancing Is A Crime (Dubstep Remix):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnBXXM2e5mQ

[James Dye]

11:25 PM on 06/05/2011

Systematic plan of reducing us to slavery underway.

[Jason Hollis]

06:39 PM on 06/08/2011

ZOMG TEH NU WURLD ODOR!!!1

[land2341]

08:16 PM on 06/05/2011

Will HUffPo let me refer to its own site??
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/one-week-in-the-life-of-a_b_868721.html

This is the story of why this event was important. Then go look up what occurred at the Jefferson this past Saturday. Every time I try to post a link it is denied. The HuffPo AOL marriage has spawned some ugly babies.

[Frankling]

05:12 PM on 06/05/2011

I have to believe that these fools are just trying to be the next viral sensation on the internet, so I skipped their video and found a printed version of the facts on another site. This circus act is getting more attention than the teachers and administrators protesting in Austin against the budget cuts in Texas that will close schools and lay-off teachers to save $3 billion when we have an untouched $9 billion "Rainy Day" fund.
If they want to mount a meaningful protest, they should blast out "Pigs on the Wing" in the halls of Congress and dance their Hokey-Pokey there. The only people they would offend there actually need some offending, and as near as I can tell, they wouldn't be interrupting any meaningful activity.
Their demand for personal freedom is bootless because they're ignoring the personal freedoms of others with the ridiculous antics. They should recognise the immutable fact that an individual's rights end where another's begin.

[wavesofgreen]

06:18 PM on 06/25/2011

Though I strongly support your point about conducting more important protest activity, I can't agree with you that their expression rights are governed or limited by the chance that someone else may be disturbed. Some of the most important free expression cases involved disturbing conduct that might offend others.

[Frankling]

09:35 PM on 06/25/2011

I would agree that sometimes people need to be disturbed, but the determining factor would be the worthiness of the cause, and that heads toward a slippery slope. Who gets to determine which cause is worthy? For me, it is annoying when people perform heroic acts of stupidity and bad taste just to become famous, and for no other reason than that.

[land2341]

04:17 PM on 06/05/2011

http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2011/06/adam-kokeshs-successful-dance-party.html

FOLLOW UP!!

[ABACADABRA RABBIT]

02:26 PM on 06/05/2011

Put them in GITMO!

This is the most pathetic cause to fight for.

Obama is building nuke plants and these fools are trying to dance in a sacred place.

[ABACADABRA RABBIT]

02:24 PM on 06/05/2011

The look on the blond female's face while she gets handcuffed is absolutely priceless!!!!

:D

[land2341]

01:54 PM on 06/05/2011

FOLLOW UP: http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2011/06/adam-kokeshs-successful-dance-party.html

The Party this saturday was a success by most standards. There is alot of footage in the article as well as a decent analysis of the legalities. Shame HuffPo hasn't followed up.

[ABACADABRA RABBIT]

06:27 AM on 06/05/2011

Thank god they were stopped!

[Oilygarch]

08:21 AM on 06/05/2011

Thank god?

You can thank our police state. ;-)

And we being created by god as persons of freee will and all. ;-)) I guess you can thank god for that. lol

[ABACADABRA RABBIT]

02:27 PM on 06/05/2011

I thank god for our police state. Happy?

[Mark Halfmoon]

04:26 PM on 06/04/2011

The people in the video seem like spoiled kids being purposefully naughty and then throwing a tantrum when they get a negative parental response, saying, "What did I do? I didn't do anything wrong! I've got my rights!"

What the hell is so damned important about doing those stupid chicken dances inside a memorial, a sacred space designed to honor a dead man?

People are actually describing the police response as brutality. In my opinion this trivializes the issue of police brutality. Black and Latino people in America are subjected to severe violence at the hands of police across the nation all the time without them even provoking it. Perhaps this is the reason for the conspicuous absence of people of color in this "exercise of freedom of expression."

While people all over the Middle East are risking being shot and killed for taking to the streets to demand real rights and freedoms, while Palestinian youths are preparing to march in the streets tomorrow to protest the truly brutal Israeli occupation, on this day, the 22nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre where the Chinese military shot and killed thousands for taking to the streets to achieve real rights, the Code Pink Dancers want everyone to get all worked up about this "gross violation of their rights" and their relative kid-glove treatment by the park police and "come join the fun."

No thank you.

[Sandra Larsen]

07:40 PM on 06/04/2011

I agree, Mark.

R E S P E C T

Dance elsewhere, or get arrested...spoiled brats. There are a number of things one could protest other than "we want to dance where we are supposed to allow people a space to be in a quiet, reflective atmosphere."

Hey, there are THREE wars they could protest.

What about heading down to Wall St and protest there, they did just steal Fort Knox.

Protest the House or the Senate.

Don't protest a request for Respect and Quiet in a spot set aside for remembrance of a great man. Respect your elders.

[loganhunter]

08:36 PM on 06/04/2011

Funny , where does it say in the Constitution that you can only have peaceful protest IF you get a permit?
ya know , the Constitution these "police" are supposed to have sworn to protect?

[Ryosuke Nakai]

11:00 PM on 06/04/2011

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

[PayPaul]

08:23 AM on 06/04/2011

In the age of Obama? I find this incredulous! We're being to told to look at our dinner plates for nutritional tips and American Citizens are being arrested for practicing the worlds oldest art form at a national monument? I call for all dancers of all ages, shapes and colors to dance across America and fill our monuments with movement, rhythm and song! Defy this fascist fiasco!

[Mark Halfmoon]

08:33 PM on 06/04/2011

You clearly haven't an inkling what fascism is.

[Rick Goodner]

01:41 PM on 06/03/2011

I had a friend, a friend I could trust
He went into the park and got busted
Doing the ring-a-round-a-rosy rag
Went in the park late at night
And he put a lot of people over eighty up tight
He was doing the ring-a-round-a-rosy rag

CHORUS:
Ring around, ring around rose
Touch your nose and blow your toes and mind
Doing the ring-around-a-rosy rag

Arlo Guthrie 1967

[Tess41]

05:46 PM on 06/02/2011

This was a blatant attempt by the dancers to make sure they *fudged* up tourists day, just to prove a point. I say send them to bed without their supper. Then ground them for the weekend. Maybe they'll learn to respect others.

Oh wait. Bad idea. It won't work. They're young liberals with the "me, me, me" mentality. Other people don't matter in the scheme of things.

[cherokee1934]

10:01 PM on 06/02/2011

I wonder if any of them do anything except Adam?

[cathleen]

01:00 PM on 06/04/2011

Medea and team work their asses off for Peace and Justice in the middle east etc. Go visit their website Code pink or Move over Aipac. You may disagree with their approach but they certainly are not complacent Americans doing nothing at all for justice and peace. These are devoted human rights activist

[cherokee1934]

10:02 PM on 06/02/2011

By the way, very good post as far as I am concerned.

[YOUAREPAIDTOLIE]

04:45 PM on 06/04/2011

SAYS THE F.ASCIST SOCK P.UPPET.