A man climbed an arch of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge and unfurled a black ribbon to protest the Iran war in what the Metropolitan Police Department is calling a “barricade situation” that blocked traffic.
Police got to the scene and spotted the person on top of the bridge shortly after 3 p.m. Friday. Officers are trying to get the person to come down, per a post on X.
The police told WJLA-TV that the northbound lanes of South Capitol Street SE across the bridge are currently blocked off as they deal with the situation.
The man has been identified as Guido Reichstadter, who posted a photo from atop the arch on X and said that “revolutionary nonviolent non-cooperation with evil is our right, power & responsibility.”
End the wars
Bring down the Trump regime
Stop AI
Revolutionary nonviolent non-cooperation with evil is our right, power & responsibility pic.twitter.com/Fwbwl5STy0
— Guido Reichstadter (@wolflovesmelon) May 1, 2026
Mr. Reichstadter told documentarian Ford Fischer, who posted video of Mr. Reichstadter climbing up the arch and unfurling a long, ribbon-like black cloth, that he was protesting the administration for its “lawless, evil atrocities that it has perpetrated on Americans and on the world.” The protest is also meant to coincide with May Day.
Mr. Reichstadter previously climbed an arch on the bridge and set off a green smoke bomb in support of abortion rights.
