DisruptJ20

DisruptJ20 (also Disrupt J20), a Washington, D.C.-based political organization founded in July 2016 and publicly launched on November 11 of the same year, stated its initial aim as protesting and disrupting events of the presidential inauguration of the 45th U.S. President, Donald Trump, which occurred on January 20, 2017. The protests organized and encouraged by the DisruptJ20 group were a part of a wider array of protests initiated by a variety of individuals and groups, in Washington, DC and nationwide; from a more extensive initial plan, deployments by DisruptJ20 at the inauguration eventually included efforts, at least, to blockade one bridge, and to attempt to shut down security checkpoints. Reports immediately prior to and following the event indicated success by James O'Keefe and Project Veritas to infiltrate DisruptJ20's planned inauguration efforts.

Description

A Washington, D.C.-based political organization, DisruptJ20 (also appearing with an inserted space before "J20") had the initial stated aim of protesting and disrupting events of the inauguration of Donald Trump as 45th President of The United States.^[1] One organizer of the DisruptJ20 protests, Alli McCracken, stated that the group is protesting Trump's views on women, undocumented immigrants and Muslims. Al Jazeera described the members of the organization as "liberal activists".^[2] Steven Nelson of the U.S. News & World Report, after interviews with organizers and representatives, described it in December 2016 as the "more radical protest-organizing network DisruptJ20, which has more than 1,700 Facebook group members."^[3] A representative of the organization has stated that it would also have demonstrated had Hillary Clinton won the 2016 presidential election.^[4]

History and protest planning

DisruptJ20 was founded around July 2016, about six months before Trump's inauguration.^[5] "J20" was chosen to stand for January 20, the scheduled day of the 2017 inauguration.^[6] DisruptJ20 was publicly launched on November 11, 2016 with a YouTube video and social media accounts.^[1] It and its aims were described in an interview with Regba Carrefour, "an organizer with DisruptJ20,"^[7][8][9] as

an umbrella coalition of groups with a core of local organizers who have a lot of activist experience. Washington, D.C. organizers… most of whom are anarchists. … The idea… is we want to undermine Trump’s presidency from the get-go. There has been a lot of talk of peaceful transition of power as being a core element in a democracy and we want to reject that entirely and really undermine the peaceful transition.^[7]

According to Nelson of the U.S. News, the DisruptJ20s website in December 2016 associated the organisation with the "DC Welcoming Committee [DCWC] collective" (describing it as "being assisted by" the DCWC) and Nelson reports that DisruptJ20, at this time, involved individuals from an array of progressive groups (as individuals, rather than representing their groups).^[3] Nelson quotes Carrefour, who he describes as "a local anarchist handling press" for DisruptJ20, as indicating that "more than 200 people attended an organizing meeting at a local church… on short notice" and that photographs "show[ed] supporters representing a range of ages and interests."^[3] Regarding intent, Carrefour stated to Nelson,

We are planning to shut down the inauguration, that’s the short of it… We’re pretty literal about that, we are trying to create citywide paralysis on a level that I don’t think has been seen in D.C. before. We’re trying to shut down pretty much every ingress into the city as well as every checkpoint around the actual inauguration parade route.^[10][3][5]

On January 14, 2017, about a hundred demonstrators met at the American University to plan and prepare their protests.^[6][11] Carrefour described their plans for inauguration week, beginning the weekend of January 14–15, 2017 ("MLK weekend"), indicating that DisruptJ20 was:

• holding "an Action Camp… doing a lot of non-violent direct action trainings" on that weekend;
• sponsoring a "queer dance party" at the residence of Vice President Mike Pence, on Wednesday, January 18;
• arranging an "action" for the DeploraBall—described as an "Alt-Right Trump inaugural ball"—on Thursday, January 19, with the aim of "trying to shut that down";
• having, on the 20th, inauguration day, "blockades… at all the checkpoints around the inauguration parade route and to get into the viewing area… transit blockades all day…. several unpermitted marches, an especially big one at Logan Circle" at 10 A.M., and a permitted march at 12 P.M., as well as events going on throughout inauguration evening."^[7][5]

After the January 14 meetings, James O'Keefe of Project Veritas posted a video shot at pizzeria Comet Ping Pong in the capital showing members of the DC Antifascist Coalition, a part of DisruptJ20, planning to disrupt the DeploraBall at the National Press Building on January 19—through use of stink bombs (of butyric acid) and activation of the building's sprinkler system.^[11][12][13] DisruptJ20 countered that it had caught on to the Veritas operation and had thus fed its operative a false plot;^[11][12] however, based on the video, the DC police arrested a man associated with the group on January 19, 2017 for his alleged planning to disrupt the DeploraBall.^[14][15][16] Veritas released a second part to the video showing DisruptJ20 participants discussing their plans to create blockades for bridges and trains; as a result of the latter video, a DisruptJ20 organizer announced that the group would scale back on their blockade efforts, and only shut down one bridge.^[17][18]

Inauguration actions, eve and day

Police presence the day of January 19, outside the National Press Building (NPB), 529 14th Street NW. Photograph bu Lorie Shaull.

Burning of Make America Great Again campaign hat after sunset January 19, outside the NPB. Photograph by Lorie Shaull.

Sit-in protest on January 20, attempting to block police line at the intersection of 12th and K Streets NW, in Washington, DC. Photograph of Slowking.

Gallery of photographs, DisruptJ20-associated protest events, presidential inauguration, 45th U.S. President, Donald Trump, January 19–20, 2017.

DisruptJ20's efforts in Washington, DC were a part of a wider array of nationwide protests, ranging from peaceful to anarchic. Events included nationwide rallies such as Our First Stand: Save Our Health Care (organized by congressional Democrats and health care activists) and Poets Protest Against Trump (by such artists, on local city hall steps), both the weekend before the inauguration; the celebrity Love-a-thon (a Facebook-broadcast fund-raiser for liberal causes, featuring a number of film actors) on inauguration day, and the Women’s March on Washington [DC] and hundreds of sister marches nationwide, the day following the inauguration.^[19]

The DisruptJ20 protests were specific actions, organized in Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland in particular.^[19] A number of their protest activities occurred throughout Washington on January 19–20, 2017. Protests involving DisruptJ20 members from a variety of groups occurred at the National Press Building during the day and into the evening, on the January 19. On January 20, DisruptJ20 participants linked arms at security checkpoints, attempting to shut down flow into the inauguration through these checkpoints.^[20] A post-event press release from DisuruptJ20, reported on by The Washington Post, state that “climate justice activists” numbering ca. 400 participated in physically blocking the inauguration security checkpoints, including a four-hour block of the checkpoint at 3rd and D Streets NW.^[21] The statement indicated, "[our] work is done."^[21] In addition, DisruptJ20-associated attempts to block traffic through a sit-in occurred at the intersection of 12th and K Streets NW.

Broad responses to the effort

Comments both supportive and judgmental have appeared around the DisruptJ20 inauguration activities. Activist filmmaker Michael Moore indicated support for their efforts in the two cities, via Twitter.^[19]

Publications ranged in opinion from support to criticism. The presentation from the The Huffington Post took the form of an information article directing interested readers to the DisruptJ20 web page, and to various protests in which they could participate.^[19]

Post-inauguration activities

As of the first week of February 2017, the organization was reporting efforts to support individual arrested for January 20 activities, in particular, fund-raising and legal support activities.^{[22][better source needed]}

Those arrested on Inauguration Day were charged with rioting, and were released pending a court date.^[23][24] A class action lawsuit was filed for false arrest, and excessive force.^{[25][26][27][28]} On April 3, 2017, the Metropolitan Police Department raided the house of a DisruptJ20 activist as part of its "investigation into the conspiracy to riot."^[29][30]

See also

References

Further reading

• Kurzius, Rachel (January 27, 2017). "U.S. Attorney Drops Felony Charge Against One Journalist Covering Inauguration Protest". DCist.com. New York, NY: Gothamist LLC. Retrieved February 4, 2017. 
• Palma, Bethania (January 25, 2017). "D.C. Police Arrest Activist After James O'Keefe Video Sting". Snopes.com. Retrieved February 4, 2017. 
• Hermann Peter & Miller, Michael E., with Alexander, Keith L. & Duggan, Paul (January 23, 2017). "Denver Defense Attorney Leads Lawsuit Alleging Washington, D.C. police Trapped, Then Arrested Inauguration Day Protesters". Denver Post. Retrieved February 4, 2017. [Subtitle:] Jason Flores-Williams served as DisruptJ20s legal adviser CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link) This article is a re-publication of the identical article by same authors, from THe Washington Post from the day earlier, but with a new revelatory title added.
• Hermann Peter & Miller, Michael E., with Alexander, Keith L. & Duggan, Paul (January 22, 2017). "Defense Attorneys Allege Police Trapped and Then Arrested Protesters". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 4, 2017. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
• Hermann, Peter; Alexander, Keith L. & Miller, Michael E. (January 21, 2017). "Protesters Who Destroyed Property on Inauguration Day were Part of Well-Organized Group". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 4, 2017. CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)

External links

• Media related to DisruptJ20 at Wikimedia Commons