The Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metro Station is the primary meeting point for attendees of Sunday’s Unite the Right 2 rally. Some locals want to make it hard for them to find a place to park.
According to the Facebook page “Fill the Vienna Metro Parking,” nearly 300 users have expressed interest in filling the 5,429 parking spots in the garages, parking lots, and metered parking spaces surrounding the Metro entrance. Counter-protestors are encouraged to park their cars in any available space Sunday morning, hours ahead of the mid-afternoon expected Unite the Right 2 gathering time.
“My proposal is that people come, park their cars at the station and then proceed to use Metro—go have brunch in Arlington or visit the amazing attractions of the Mall and Smithsonian,” page creator Joanna Cole writes. “It’s public parking on a first-come basis.”
However, some neighborhood residents expressed discontent with the plan, insisting that the demonstration will cause more harm to regular commuting folk over white supremacists.
“In reality, given the size of the lot, what’s going to result is a little extra walking for Nazis that are driving rather than taking buses to the station,” user Katherine Berland commented.
Organizers of this weekend’s Unite the Right 2 rally have urged participants to take an Uber or taxi to the Vienna Metro. Though white supremacists may not find safe spaces in ride-share services, either.
The parking protests are set to begin Sunday at 8 AM.
Brittany Shepherd covers the societal and cultural scene in political Washington. Before joining Washingtonian as a staff writer in 2018, Brittany was a White House Correspondent for Independent Journal Review. While she has lived in DC for a number of years now, she still yearns for the fresh Long Island bagels of home. Find her on Twitter, often prattling on about Frasier.
