Two Arrested Outside Fenty Offices in AIDS Protest was originally published on City Desk on Dec. 01, 2009, at 2:44 pm
Two AIDS activists were arrested this afternoon after loudly protesting outside Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's city hall 'bullpen.'
The protesters, Larry Bryant and Matthew Kavanaugh, were among about a dozen members of the D.C. Fights Back coalition that entered the John A. Wilson Building after 2 p.m. today as part of an protest tied to World AIDS Day.
"Fenty, Fenty, can't you see? Fund the fight for HIV," they chanted.
They picked a good day to do it. Numerous reporters covering today's D.C. Council votes on gay marriage and other matters were gathered up in the fifth-floor press room. After the chants echoed through the Wilson Building atrium, many rushed down to the hubbub.
Karyn Pomerantz, an D.C. Fights Back organizer, said the demonstration inside the building followed a rally outside that attracted about 200. The object of coming inside the building was to get a meeting with Fenty; it's unclear if he was in the office at the time.
"He's never had a meeting with any of us," says Pomerantz, who criticizes the District's official AIDS-fighting strategy. "There's never any action."
