Check this picture out:
It was taken by a Trafficland camera this past Saturday during the 9/12 protest. Yes, that is the U.S. Capitol several blocks into the background.
Now, given the size of the crowd in that picture, look at how the Washington D.C. Park Service estimates the size of a crowd:
I’ll leave it to you to estimate the crowd size. I already have a good idea of what it is.
But while you are thinking about it, here are some more pictures from the 9/12 Tea Party protest:
Policitians ignore us at their own peril.
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: 9/12, Crowd size, march, Washington D.C.
[...] And I just found another with an crowd size estimate. [...]
1 helicopter according to the police. 111 ‘ 000 according to the demonstrators.
Got a link for that number? The estimates I’ve been seeing from the demonstrators has been consistently higher than that. The first picture alone has more than 500,000 people in it. According to Park Service estimates, the “ticketed area” in front of the Capitol alone will hold almost a quarter-million.
I estimate 1,000,000 plus.Does anyone have a count on how many came out around the rest of America.Maybe we could ask the other tea parties to give us their numbers.
why is the flag at half mast in the first picture?
All flags were kept at half-mast on September 12 to honor the victims of 9/11.
The TrafficCam picture is not of the National Mall, but of the much narrower Pennsylvania Ave. So the chart is no help in estimating the size, because it’s not a chart of the same space as what’s in the picture.
It is very helpful in estimating the size of the crowd. Even if you assume the space of Pennsylvania Avenue is half the size of the Mall (which is about right), then there would be about 500,000 people in that picture alone. This doesn’t even take into account the number of people up near the Capitol or out on the Mall itself.
Not! The Mall is 5 BLOCKS WIDE… Pennsylvania Avenue is only one street. Better luck next time.
I think that you should consider that the shot of Penn. Ave was offered to highlight the fact that although the mall was packed from the Capital to the Washington Monument, the crowd was still flowing from Freedom Plaza up Penn. to the Capital.
This is how it was, I was there.
They also gave up on keeping people from non permitted areas.
The total when all the dust settles will be in the range of 1.7 to 2.1
There were very many people there shouting with one voice.
“WE ARE MADE AS HELL AND WE WILL NOT TAKE IT ANYMORE!”
I was also there and don’t forget that many of the streets leading to the area were also full of people that couldn’t move to the designated area………. what a wonderful weekend. So many nice friendly people of all ages. I’ll do it again in a heart beat.
I think what matters most is that we can speculate all we want about the numbers that attended. But the government KNOWS. That’s why we were there. That’s what really matters
Man someone needs to post this link on Drudge. I saw youtube video but main stream media is trying to say it was only maybe 50,000 people. I think they just dont want to admit it. Wish I could have been there
I was there at 1 pm and based on what I saw and the park service estimate above I would have to say the crowd would have been in the 200, 000-300,000 + range if their diagram is correct. The area which the park service calls “ticketed area – 240,000″ was filled as can be verified in these pictures. A lot of people were just arriving at 1 pm and I saw a lot of people leaving, so I’m sure the actual number of protesters that showed up throughout the day would be higher than any estimate based on a single photo.
Um, no, Pennsylvania Avenue is not “half” the width of the national mall. And that estimate you have on the top is 1 person per 2.5 square feet. Look at your own pictures! The density of the crowd isn’t even close to that. Each person has 15-20 square feet to themself.
Draw a 2.5 square foot block on the ground. That would be 2.5 feet wide and 1 foot deep. Now imagine someone in each one of those blocks. There wouldn’t even be room to sit! The pictures on this very site confirm that the crowd didn’t remotely approach that density.
I was there and I have been in many football crowds in Cleveland. I know 80,000. There were at least a million people. However, if they want to call it 50,000 thats fine with me. Say 5,000 and let the matter rest. The congressional elections in 2010 will tell the real story and I am sure they will find a way to demean those numbers as well. Who cares , it’s the final results that count.
I was there on Saturday. The pictures are absolutely accurate. I am not a member of any of the organizing groups; just felt compelled to attend and express my feelings about what’s going wrong these days in Washington. The crowd was huge. I joined the parade with my wife just after 10 AM. It was not supposed to begin until 11 AM, but the police told organizers that they had to because the starting place (Freedom Park) could not hold any more people. It was becoming a safety concern. People continued to stream in and down Pennsylvania Ave until well after 2 PM. The entire NW and SW lawns of the Capitol were packed very early. People then spilled onto areas around the Grant Memorial and reflecting pond. The crowd then extended well down toward the Wash Monument (on the Mall) as well as back along Pennsylvania Ave. I have been to plenty of large events (sports stadiums & outdoor concerts). There had to be many hundreds of thousands there at a minimum, and very possibly well over a million. It was a fantastic event; everyone was polite and ruly. Never saw one confrontation. All of the people we met were average citizens (from young to old); most had never protested anything in their lives before. But all very concerned about the direction of this country based on our new President and the inept Congress.
I was also there on Sunday and your comments are identical to my observations.
I paced off the west lawn of the Capital the next day and the fenced-in areas are a good 125,000 sq. YARDS. I was in that area and people were packed in such that you had to push your way thru. There were at least 80,000 just in the plastic fenced areas of that lawn. I’ve been to many U of Mich. games and know what 106,000 look like, and would be lost in this crowd.
I could see down the mall from our vantage and estimate see a mile — filled with people. The other 2 “spokes” of Penn. Ave and Constitution Ave. were also filled at least in the vicinity of the Capital back to ? I could only see maybe 0.25 to 0.5 miles.
Back at the Hyatt that evening, EVERYBODY wanted to talk. Ditto for the next AM. These were a group of people that knew their facts and are the ones pulling the wagon.
[...] Crowd Size From The 9/12 March On Washington DC Check this picture out: [...]
Alright – the silly diagram highlighted yellow was NOT populated all at once. Using photos at different stages during the march to IMPLY that all of these areas were simultaneously crowd-filled is misleading and wrong.
People marched down P Ave and then P Ave was only populated back to about 3rd Street once the program started. The Capitol grounds and P Ave were NOT occupied at the same time – so there is a false assumption using that diagram.
I’m putting tops count of people at 500,000.
[...] Re: Freedomworks lies about crowd size – misuses ABC as source A link with some crowd size estimates. Crowd Size From The 9/12 March On Washington DC 84RULES [...]
The term “lied” is frequently used incorrectly. A false statement or inaccurate statement is not necessarily a lie. So, a wrong answer on a test in school is not a “lie”. In order to be a lie, it must be purposely told while knowing it to be untrue and the one calling it a lie must be able to know that it was purposeful. It also implies an intent to deceive.
Someone being careless may be wrong but not actually “lying”.
I guess everyone “lies” about their crowd size if you say any number later shown to be wrong is a “lie”.
Obama swearing in was claimed to be 1.8 million but later shown from satellite photos to be 850,000. The “million man march” claimed 1.5 to 2.0 million but the park service said ‘less than 500,000′. Were the claims just wrong? honest mistakes? lies? Not being a mind reader, I can not say.
I have pics and video footage which show the sheer size of this crowd. They were taken at every angle and location where people congregated as of 1PM-130 pm Look at the statistical analyses done by University of Indiana as well as several experts. The FACTS always shake out once the politics wane. At least a million by anyone who studies these pics and photos with 1.5 million not out of the question.
Thanks Jim Neub for your data. I was trying to ID the University that did the analyses but no one seemed to know. We were there and if the news media would have done their job everyone would clearly see the size of the 9-12 march. What really struck me was the fact that it was so orderly yet no one was actually in control. I was there from 8:30 am until 3:30 Pm and everyone was just friendly. I understand that there were no arrest and thats remarkable in its self with a huge crowd. Another point I want to make is that there was no profane or obscene language. How can that be!
60,000…..500,000…that’s still a ton of dumb n crazy (and obese racists) in one place.
Racist conservatives are liars and now you bozos are believing your own lies. Once you guys are finally done lying about the crowd size, socialism will be flourishing (HCR passes).
el pinche,
I am sorry you hold such hate and anger toward someone like me.
I am just a hard working America, I pay my taxes, support my local community, and aside from the fact that I vote come election time I have never, ever been to a protest of any sort, until now. I went to this event in Washington and was amazed at how many people were there, people of every race and color, and all ages and frankly, I didn’t see many obese people. I did see young people, old people, families with children and many smiles and the atmosphere of a very large family gathering.
I didn’t vote for our President but I was proud that we had finally elected a “black-American” President, very proud that we had come so far since the days of Rosa Parks, an American hero for standing up for freedom. I traveled to Washington DC from Texas with some neighbors, we are not some fringe, right winged, nut bags, we are exercising our rights, as Americans, to peaceful dissent and to protest certain issues we have with our elected Representatives who are not listening to us… why should we not protest this massive, out of control spending that is strapping our children and grandchildren with such massive debt it will be impossible to repay? Right now we borrow money just to pay the interest on money we have already borrowed! Insanity!
We need and want less government control and spending and to have the Constitution respected and adhered to by the member of our government. That is why I went to Washington using my own money with a hand made sign that read “Without Freedom We Have Nothing”. That is what I believe and I see our freedoms slipping away while we are “sleeping”. We are awake now and we are a growing force to be reckoned with.
We are not of any particular party either, and if the Democrats or Republicans think they can just align themselves with us and get elected they have another thing coming. To gain our votes they must demonstrate a true belief in the 9-12 principals. To learn what that means go to the 9-12 project website for additional information.
Furthermore, I am dismayed that there is an effort “out there” that is dividing America more than ever along lines of color. We are one people, one nation; we are Americans…that is the only name we should use in reference to ourselves and each other. Fostering racial hatred is despicable.
Lydia, nice retort to ‘el pinche’, but please don’t feel compelled to reply to such garbage — depsite the urge. We all know what took place on 9/12 and how most Americans feel about what’s happening in Washington. The mindless remarks from this person IS the reason why their side will lose in the end.
[...] topics were important to different people. How horrifying that we all didn't carry the same sign. Crowd Size From The 9/12 March On Washington DC 84RULES __________________ "I rather be part of the doing, than being done [...]
[...] topics were important to different people. How horrifying that we all didn't carry the same sign. Crowd Size From The 9/12 March On Washington DC 84RULES You had no reason to be there. If these weren't issues to you during the Bush Administration, [...]
I was at this rally and it was huge. I am no expert at crowd size guessing, but it was a HUGE crowd that exceeded many people expectation, including the event organizers. The people who attended this rally were the type of people you would want to be your neighbor. I was at ease, enjoying the time in this crowd and at no time ever felt something nasty may happen. The place was very clean the entire time of the rally and I have attended many events where there were a lot of people. Never have I seen a place remain as clean as the grounds where this rally took place. Most of the people who were there wants the type of government that we believe our founding fathers envision, not some huge overbearing government that we have now. Remember, the Revolutionary War was because England was becoming an overbearing government to the colonies.
The people at this rally are the hard working respectfully Americans that built this country.
As someone who went to both Obama’s inauguration and the 9/12 protest, I can honestly say that this wasn’t half the size of the inauguration. It wasn’t 1/10th the size of the inauguration.
For the inauguration, I had to leave my house (which is 15 blocks from the mall) at 5 in the morning and I still couldn’t get on the mall. I had to walk because the Metro was way too crowded.
For the 9/12 protest, I went down around noon. I jumped on the Metro without a problem and had no trouble moving through the crowd.
50-60,000 (the DC Fire Dept’s estimate) is an impressive number. There is no reason to lie. Claiming 1-2 million shows either ignorance of the facts or a cavalier disregard for the truth.
Um, Jonathan, there WASN’T room to sit. Unless you wanted to sit on someone’s lap.
I go to the NASCAR race at Bristol twice a year and just attended in August. It’s a half-mile track and by simply standing up you can see everyone, so I KNOW what 170,000 people look like, (and if you’re a nut, don’t dispel my comments after you research because Bristol capacity was 167,000 BEFORE they added a bunch of rows and many more sky boxes just opposite where we sit in turn 3. But NASCAR can’t have anything top Daytona’s 168,000 seats; there are politics in everything). I’ve also lived and worked in DC. My territory as a business machine rep was right in that area, and included to name a few, the FBI, Agriculture, Treasury, DC gov’t offices, and many others all in that area of DC, so I have what many don’t seem to, a grasp of the concept of scale concerning that area. I’m very familiar with PA Ave, Constitution Ave, The Mall, that whole area of concentrated government, all the way from 1600 PA Ave to the Capitol, plus the side streets, which was my territory. This crowd is way more than 5.8 times a Bristol crowd, which would be 1,000,000. I don’t base the count on politics but on what I see and what I know. It’s unbelievable that everything is politics now and we are so naive. I did the Atkins diet, lost 35 pounds, have kept it off for almost 10 years and have excellent lipid panel test results. Yet someone still came up to me with bated breath to tell me Dr. Atkins had dropped dead from his diet. I replied that I thought the fact he slipped on ice and busted his head open had nothing to do with his diet. But that time it was a food police advocate. Grow up and think, people.
I have done my own study base on a devised stationary methodology and calculation which you can find here:
http://deathbymedia.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/912-washington-dc-tea-party-rally-crowd-estimation/
It’s backed by visual evidence (pictures and clips) all available in the same entry, plus determining the boundaries of the rally and calculation of the final tally derived from the density of the crowd at each given block. My calculus puts the figures around 130k up to 160k.
Even if there were a million people, I doubt there were more that 50 teeth.