Bethesda Black Lives Matter protest draws thousands (Video+Photos)

A Black Lives Matter protest at the Bethesda Library this afternoon drew a large crowd and shut down Arlington Road just after midday. Crowd estimates by reporters with helicopter views ranged from over a thousand to several thousand people. Speakers not only addressed national issues, but also local ones; many in the crowd were students from Walt Whitman and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High Schools. Most people wore masks to the rally, which remained peaceful, and then marched around the downtown. Police provided an escort, blocking traffic as marchers made their way through the central business district. Marchers stopped at spots to kneel.

Despite the peaceful nature of the event, many nearby businesses continued to hammer boards over their windows - even as speakers addressed the crowd at the rally. Some boarded up but stayed open, like Five Guys. Others had been open for morning customers, and were rushing to close before the rally ended. In perhaps the oddest case, the CVS Pharmacy on Wisconsin Avenue was closed, and a sign blamed the closure on a "curfew." Problem: There is no curfew. But the drugstore was entirely boarded up, and unlike other businesses, even had piled up objects to blockade the entrance.

Luxury apartment and condo buildings also took varying degrees of protective measures. Upstairs at Bethesda Row pulled their street-level curtains and sealed both sets of inner doors. Others went further, deploying private security guards to patrol outside.

So far this afternoon, the event has been peaceful. And for the first time since my early years on Twitter, our town of Bethesda is actually outnumbering tweets about Bethesda Softworks in Twitter search!

This looks like a tactical police SUV with rear gun ports,
but it's actually a news vehicle, a helpful reporter
told me. Even the media is becoming militarized!

Warby Parker boarding up as
the event begins nearby

More Bethesda Row businesses boarded up ahead of Tuesday protest

A George Floyd-related protest scheduled for 1:00 PM at the Bethesda Library this afternoon is expected to be peaceful. But many businesses have decided to board up their storefronts anyway, joining bluemercury and the Apple Store, which boarded up Sunday as a group of 75 looters smashed windows and stole merchandise just over the D.C. line in Northwest Washington. They never made it past a cordon of 50 officers in riot gear at the Montgomery County line.

Workers were hammering boards into place at the Chase Bank on Bethesda Avenue Monday night. Their building at 4749 Bethesda Avenue has extensive glass panes across the entire facade. Retailers with expensive merchandise like Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma were among those walled up yesterday. Pampillonia Jewelers cleverly covered their sign, as well, leaving it unclear to anyone coming from outside the area as to what exactly the business behind their boards is.

Paul Bakery was not boarded up Monday night, but it looked like anything that wasn't nailed down inside the French bakery had been removed in advance. Montgomery County police officers were patrolling around Bethesda Row on foot all evening, but protests did not come close to the Maryland/DC line last night, much less to Bethesda.

With all of the effort, businesses may ultimately only slow down determined looters with plywood. Businesses like the Apple Store in DC had their boards simply pried off, and their stores ended up being cleaned out anyway.