There have only been a handful of times since I started blogging six years ago that I've covered a story that made me really, deeply, viscerally angry. Monday, February 27, 2012 was one of those times. That night I attended the "TAKE BACK THE RIGHT: Candlelight Vigil & Speak Out for Women" at Virginia's Capitol Square near the Virginia Governor's Mansion. It was a small, well behaved and completely peaceful demonstration, as the following photos prove. In addition, I have video which I will be publishing later to show just how completely peaceful this demonstration was.
The crowd was passionate, but extremely well behaved. The mood of the protesters was peaceful, but determined to make their point and convey their opposition to Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell's radical anti-woman social agenda. The ordinary, uniformed Capitol Police were well represented, at a minimum there was at least one armed, uniformed Capitol Police person at or near the site of the protest for every two protesters. This in itself was a wildly disproportionate response to the scale and character of the protest, which was quiet, even muted.