5,000 attend Hartford Tea Party

A week ago organizers estimated the Hartford Tea Party would host about 1,000 protesters. Today their expectations were shattered when 5,000 angry patriots flooded the north lawn of the State Capitol to vent their frustration over bailouts, taxation and a distinct socialistic direction the country has taken.

Pictures and video are streaming in from attendees and can be found at the bottom of this post.

The Huffington Post took the citizen reporter route in an attempt to cover all the tea parties across the country and asked volunteers to submit twitter, written and visual reports of their local events. Here is my report:

Hartford, CT – Jon Searles

Normally a decidedly blue city, Hartford Connecticut took on a red hue Wednesday as 5000 self described conservatives converged on the north lawn of the State Capitol to express outrage over runaway spending, bailouts and excessive taxation from Federal, State and Local Governments. Self titled a “Tea Party” this gathering was among thousands of similar events staged across the country in an effort characterized by participants who say they are fed up with both major political parties.

Capitol Police who observed the event provided an attendance estimate of 5000 but generated some controversy of their own when they were observed videotaping the crowd for about an hour. Following the recent revelation of a Department of Homeland Security report which has been reported on talk radio to characterize conservatives as threats some attendees questioned the purpose of this taping.

Signs carried by the crowd were as diverse as the people carrying them. However, with messages such as “T.E.A. Taxed Enough Already” and “Forget the Tea Pass the Tar and Feathers” the message from the crowd was anything but diverse. Loud cheers came from the crowd every time one of the radio hosts, political activists or fellow citizens who took the mic denounced government bailouts, intervention in the markets and taxation leaving little room to misinterpret the reason so many turned out at lunch time on a work day.

One of the organizers identified as Rick reluctantly volunteered as a grassroots organizer when other leadership failed to surface. He jokingly wondered when he’d be receiving his check in response to claims by some media outlets that the Tea Parties were a product of the RNC or other national Republican organizations. There was a variety of material being passed around from multiple organizations including the Campaign for Liberty and Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations but the lack of State or National Republican representation at the event gave credibility to the grassroots claim. Organizers were deliberate in their exclusion of politicians and candidates from the microphone citing a desire to prevent a genuine citizen movement from being hijacked by the agendas of the same politicos who brought on the need for protests.

Pictures and video:

RadioViceOnline:
http://radioviceonline.com/photos-and-video-from-the-hartford-tax-day-tea-party/

Jim Banks:
http://community.webshots.com/album/571109957HEFTWj

Hartford Courant:
http://www.courant.com/video/?slug=hc-tea-party-wn