WASHINGTON - Thousands of people converged on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall on Sunday morning and tore down the barricades blocking it off, protesting the closure of the memorial during the federal government shutdown.

Beginning at about 9:30 a.m., Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as well as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, were among the luminaries in a crowd that chanted "Tear down these walls!" and sang "God Bless America" as well as other patriotic songs as they entered the memorial, which has been closed since the government shutdown that began Oct. 1.

Tractor-trailers headed down 17th Street toward the Mall, blaring their horns. The Metropolitan Police Department blocked off the street, prompting the crowd to head up the street, shouting at the police to move their vehicles

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Pictures from the event (from the link)

The following video from Facebook user Paul Longenecker shows a confrontation in front of the White House between law enforcement officials and protestors:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/...-on-washington/

The cops look terrified. Even the ones in riot gear who are much better protected than the bicycle cops with them,and who are usually more aggressive.

My hat is off to the senior cop there that took a look around and had the wisdom to understand he needed to get his people the hell out of there before something went wrong and the crowd started disassembling his people. After all,these are pissed off white people who are veterans,something you almost never see, and all it would have taken was for one cop to panic and start smacking some old vet with his baton or spraying him with pepper spray,and it would have been "game ON!"

I have no idea who he is,but I hope the men and women under his command throw a party for him. He may have saved their asses.

There comes a time to stop putting on "the show" and stop acting stupid. Those cops could have been in serious trouble..and the people werent doing anything to begin with. They have a right to protest...and it didnt even look like they were doing much of that. Lucky for the cops..that these folks werent the usual protestors..that turn in to rioters..in a heartbeat and we all know who they are.