A group of Obama supporters stormed today’s Tax Day Tea Party in downtown Washington, D.C., creating a brief and nonviolent ruckus among the tea partiers gathered to listen to Grover Norquist and Dick Armey on Freedom Plaza.
The pro-Obama group, known as “The Other 95%,” held a counter-rally earlier in the day to thank Democrats for what they say are the tax cuts the party has given to 95% of Americans since Obama took power.
I happened to be standing right next to the Freedom Party steps when TO95 organizer Alex Lawson walked up with several other members carrying a massive banner reading “Thanks For Our Tax Cuts, Obama!”
D.C. cops quickly tossed the group off the plaza, but not before they got into a couple of shouting matches with tea partiers present. Check out my video of how it all went down — and how one tea partier from Phoenix, AZ felt about it — after the jump.
Here’s the video, featuring Lawson and tea partier Sherri Stockard:
A volunteer with with TO95 me told the police tossed the group from the plaza because they didn’t have a permit to protest there. TO95 captured its own video of the day, available here.
Lawson told me the group wasn’t associated with the Democratic party, a union or the Obama administration.
“We are not sponsored by anyone,” he said. “We’re a group of concerned citizens. We put this together ourselves, and we paid for this banner…We’re just out here on our lunch hours making sure our message gets heard by everyday Americans.”
(Video editing by Jillian Rayfield)
