The federal government prohibits sledding on Capitol Hill. But when dozens of protesting children showed up with sleds in hand on a snowy Thursday afternoon, US Capitol Police surrendered the hills and let the children sled.
Media outlets documented some of the brave protesters via Twitter:
Families flock to Capitol Hill with sleds in hand, in protest of ban http://t.co/hWRh8U3rHW pic.twitter.com/lt0fGRwe0u
— WTOP (@WTOP) March 5, 2015
Outlaws. pic.twitter.com/g0Rsue3ajT
— Benjamin Freed (@brfreed) March 5, 2015
What's the Capitol Hill sled protest without protest signs? pic.twitter.com/jT5CQp2sBr
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) March 5, 2015
Such a DC moment @bridgetbhc: Reporters talk to kids sledding on Capitol Hill pic.twitter.com/kzR50J1wPO
— Sapana Vora (@SapanaV) March 5, 2015
The Capitol Hill sledding ban, the Washingtonian explained, has been in place since the 1980s, but it's been enforced more strictly since 9/11 as a matter of national security.
Prior to the snowstorm that hit DC on Thursday, Congresswoman Eleanor Norton, DC's nonvoting representative in the US House, asked Capitol Police to lift the ban from Thursday to Sunday. But the Capitol Police Board declined.
.@lmedsker I just wrote to the U.S. Capitol Police Board Chair requesting a waiver of the sledding ban for Thur-Sun: https://t.co/83ovqi5Tv0
— Eleanor H. Norton (@EleanorNorton) March 4, 2015
The children didn't seem too concerned with the ban. When the Washingtonian's Benjamin Freed asked a seven-year-old if she was scared of being chased off or arrested by Capitol Police, she responded, "I don't care."
