March on Washington updates: Sharpton bemoans ?broken promises? as thousands march in D.C.

Organizers said they wanted to highlight the civil rights issues of today and bring well-known speakers to address the crowd while also mitigating the spread of the novel coronavirus with strict safety protocols.Photos from the March on WashingtonThe march — dubbed the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” Commitment March on Washington — began with speeches from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which was followed by a coordinated march to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in West Potomac Park.They marched in orange jumpsuits with cuffs on their wrists and bags over their heads, representing a group of incarcerated men who they say have endured prolonged solitary confinement in prison.And as they marched through Black Lives Matter Plaza, they sang.“Mama, Mama, can’t you see what this prison’s done to me?”The activists, led by Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee in D.C. and included a daughter whose father was in prison, settled outside the White House. They felt it showed unity among activists — including attendees of different races and ethnicities and ideologies.Both said they come from families that are politically wide-ranging.“Being an advocate for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor — who’s going to tell that story, to our nieces and nephews — ” York said.“- and our children,” Meche added, as they smiled.As the sky grew overcast over Black Lives Matter Plaza, some protesters turned their attention away from the makeshift DJ station and to a group of about a dozen officers guarding St. John’s Church, where President Trump had staged a photo op two months earlier.Tensions ticked up after a male protester jumped over the concrete barrier, prompting two dozen more officers to arrive on the scene.“Whose streets? Just before 6 p.m., a White man jumped over the fence surrounding St John’s, prompting other protesters to crowd toward the barrier.“Don’t you dare touch him!” one yelled at the officers as they jogged around the perimeter of the church, asking protesters to stay back.Dozens of protesters marched down the middle of the Francis Scott Key Bridge just after 5 p.m. Friday as a protester turned the group’s attention to the thick brigade of D.C. police officers on bicycles following close behind.“Say hello to our boys in blue,” she shouted.The crowd jeered, raised one finger and thrust their hands at the police. Some stopped to stare through the chain links at the park’s empty expanse before moving north to join the crowd.As the crowds started marching toward the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, scores of people split off and walked down Constitution Avenue, tired and hot and, in some cases, making their way to Union Station to catch a bus home.“This is more people than we really anticipated,” said Russell Cheek, a political consultant who works for the New York City Council, as he walked down Constitution Avenue hoping to buy a bottle of water.Cheek said he helped coordinate buses filled with protesters making the trip from New York. More than 30 buses, filled at less than half capacity for social distancing, drove down to D.C. before dawn, he said.Some protesters waited on the streets of the Bronx as early as 2 a.m. to catch a bus to Washington.“A lot of people are tired because it took a lot just to get here,” he said.And many of them still had a long journey home, that same afternoon.“The buses are pulling out at 4 p.m., with or without you,” he said.At 4:15 p.m., a few hundred protesters gathered at Washington Circle, preparing for a march of their own. An organizer said the gathering included groups from Miami, Detroit, New York, Portland, Ore., Philadelphia and Chicago.They split up the crowd into smaller groups, advising, “We’re all going to the same place.”Organizers said they were going to block a bridge and “shut down the whole city.”“It’s a beautiful day to take over Chocolate City,” an organizer yelled as a few hundred people prepared to march toward Georgetown.A few D.C. police cruisers began blocking off the roads ahead of them, while others lined up beside the circle. “It is needed.”Gathered outside the U.S. Department of Justice, a crowd of about 200 people circled a pickup truck and listened as the relatives of victims of police violence spoke into a microphone.The protesters, led by the groups Every Case Matters and Mass Action Against Police Brutality, demanded that the Justice Department reopen all cases of police brutality and prosecute the officers responsible.Ishtyme Robinson, whose daughter died in 2010, also criticized “the amplification of victims” and of certain names and families “at the expense of millions of Africans slaughtered on this soil.”“We don’t get anything personally by fighting individually,” she said. Then on a piece of masking tape, he wrote in bold letters “JACOB BLAKE,” the name of the man shot seven times by police this week, and added it to the list.“He needed to be recognized, just like the others,” said the agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of his job.The agent, who is Puerto Rican and Native American, said he and his wife, who is Black, marched Friday because they believe in all social justice movements — the Women’s March, the March for Our Lives and the protests that broke out in the summer after George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were killed by police.“There’s a need for change,” he said.