The Redhunter

Directly across the street from the Danish Embassy is this house where Hillary Clinton lives. During the event I did not see anyone come or leave it, nor did I see anyone at the windows. I'm sure she was forwarned and wisely stayed away that day.

After a few minutes Michelle Malkin showed up. She greeted us and took some pictures. However, she did not join our group, as she was there in the role of reporter rather than participant. It was a thrill to have her there, as I am a huge fan. Her blog is a daily must-read.

(note; you should be able to enlarge any of the pictures by simply clicking on them. I'm keeping them a bit smaller in this post so that they load quicker for people without broadband)

There were also plenty of police and media. The cops didn't look very worried. They had a strong enough presence, and of course being in Washington DC they have plenty of experience with rallies and protests. We asked some of the reporters who they were with and I remember hearing the Washington Post and Associated Press.

Here is a view down the street from the embassy

Here they come. They brought a pretty decent PA system, with portable generator and all

The Excitement Begins

As the Muslims organized, one of their member began to speak to us. Or rather, like all of them, he ranted. I'm not quite sure who this guy is, but I'll going to do some research tomorrow, so if you come back Sunday evening I'll have more

These next two photos are of Malik Zulu Shabazz, their leader and main speaker. He sounded very much like Louis Farrakhan, and watching him reminded me of films of Benito Mussolini.

I'll have more on him tomorrow. In the meantime, the Anti-Defamation League has a page on the New Black Panther Party that as expected is very good. They also have a page on him, titled "Malik Zulu Shabazz in His Own Words". It's pretty scary stuff. Here's a quick sample

What we have against Jews and others is [sic] simple facts of history: that the Jews have been involved in the African holocaust and that the Zionists are causing problems, you know, for people of color around the world … The State of Israel. The Zionist entity there. It's a problem. It's a problem for our brothers and sisters in that particular area and it's causing problems all over the earth.

Also, here's an interview I found that I found pretty interesting, though not for reasons he'd appreciate.

Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin was doing something I wish I'd been doing; writing down what these guys were saying. In my hurry to leave the house that morning I hadn't thought to bring an notepad. As I'm sure she'll have details on her blog tomorrow, I'll revise this post by including her observations, so be sure and check back.

The Numbers Grow

For the first hour we had maybe a dozen on our side, and the Panthers/Muslims about twice that number. By the time they left at 3:00 they had about 50 people and I counted about 25 on our side.

Here's a view from the top of the street down along our line. I'm the guy in the green jacket holding the Danish flag and the "S" in our "HUMAN SHIELDS" sign

Here's another view along our line

You can see the amusement on many faces. It was hard to take these people seriously. This was not like the protests in European cities, where you had thousands of Muslims of Arabic heritage protest, with their posters threatening violence. While to be sure Malik Zulu Shabazz and his ilk are hateful people preaching racist bile, that they could only attract 50 followers in Washington DC is telling. Most of the time we just laughed at their insanities.

Sometimes Shabazz and the other speakers would try to cajole us into joining them, and at other times they would do all but threaten us with violence (threats on other embassies were a common theme). Sometimes they looked as if they actually expected us to fall on our knees and worship Allah, and looked disappointed when we didn't. They went from speaker to speaker, almost as a baseball team calls in a new pitcher when the old one is no longer effective. It was if they were trying new speakers to find one that would get through to us. Very weird.

At one point one of their speakers was complaining that two Muslims were imprisoned in Europe for questioning whether the holocaust had occured. I and others shouted at him asking if he questioned whether the holocaust had occured. He paused at this, but would never answer us directy.

A few times Shabazz or one of the others mentioned "the Jews". At this we all hooted and hollered and cried "racist!" Sensing that this was a mistake, they changed to railing against the "Zionists".

Michelle pulled several of their speakers aside for interviews. In this next photo she is speaking with Shabazz himself

During all this two guys came out from the Danish Embassy to observe the goings on. They looked more amused than anything.

Here are a few more of their speakers. I don't know who they are but will try to get IDs tomorrow, so check back Sunday evening.

What It all Meant

One of my favorite bloggers, Kat of The Middle Ground, posted this comment on my blog a few months ago

We no longer cede our voice and the public square to only those who "dissent". Something that was necessary at our founding and which we had ceded since the Vietnam days. (see, it's not Vietnam redux...;)

She was responding to one of my posts in which we went to Lafayette Park in Washington DC for a pro-Iraq rally.

I hadn't quite made that connection until she made that comment. And she's right, too, we're not going to let the other side have the streets or the public square to themselves anymore. Freedom must be defended, and it that means standing in front of the Royal Danish Embassy symbolically protecting it from Muslim radicals, then so be it. There are many fronts in the War on Terror, and today I was at one of them.

Update: Media Reaction and other Bloggers

The Washington Post has a short story up on the event. I'm actually in the photo, the guy holding the Danish flag at left.

Kristinn ofFreeRepublic has a great write-up and photos. Check it out. Money quotes:

Shabazz also was quite menacing--in a cartoonish manner. I was reminded of a Twilight Zone episode with a young Dennis Hopper as a Hitler wannabe who is mentored by the ghost of the Fuhrer, himself.

Shabazz gave racist, anti-Semitic, anti-American, Islamofascist diatribes, in between other speakers who gave, well, racist, anti-Semitic, anti-American, Islamofascist diatribes.

...
Two of their speakers started out sounding reasonable, but pretty soon they veered off into cloud cuckooland soon after. For some reason, they kept blaming the Jews for their problems. What wasn't the Jews' fault was white people's fault, and America's fault, and George Bush's fault, and Dick Cheney's fault, and Halliburton's fault, and oh yes, the Danes' fault.

They started out complaining about the cartoons, but more often than not, the cartoons were an afterthought.

Shabazz came very close to losing his temper with us. When we pulled "Kumbaya" from our repertoire, he started ranting about how lucky we were the police were present. He pointed his hand at one of us and cocked his hand like a pistol and dropped his thumb down like he was 'firing'.

He did loosen up later though and cracked a Holocaust joke.

Joking about the holocaust. That about says it all, doesn't it?

Several of the people who author Smashing Left-Wing Scum were there, and they a great write-up and photos too.

B. Preston, author of Junkyard Blog, was at the event with Michelle Malkin. His initial post on the event is here and he's got a good close up photo of whacko-in-chief Malik Zulu Shabazz. I saw him there taking video and pictures, and yesterday he wrote that he "had hoped to have them edited for your entertainment tonight, but technical problems got in the way. Stay tuned to the JYB and Michelle’s blog—we plan to have an edited video of the protest posted soon."

You can count on it.