WASHINGTON — “Occupy D.C.” protesters blocked the streets around a convention center in Washington, D.C., late Friday where a conservative conference was being held.
About 500 protesters gathered outside the Walter E. Washington Convention Center where the Defending the American Dream Summit began earlier in the day, The Washington Post reported.
Some protesters told the newspaper they wanted to stop people being able to leave the center.
The “Occupy DC” group posted on its Twitter feed that five protesters had been arrested, but police told WJLA-TV there had been no arrests.
Three protesters were hit by a car at 7th and K Streets about 9:50pm local time, myFOXdc.com reported, with two taken to the hospital with non-serious injuries.
Police said the car hit two people, then kept driving, and hit a third person before it was stopped. The driver was in custody, police said.
One woman said she was dragged by the car for a number of feet (meters) and angry protesters swarmed the vehicle yelling “shame,” WJLA-TV reported.
The Post reported that a number of fights had broken out between demonstrators and members of the public.
The two-day summit aims to “send a powerful message to Congress and President [Barack] Obama that Americans do not want government controlling our lives and sending future generations deeper into debt,” according to the event’s website.
FOX News’s legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano was scheduled to speak at Friday night’s Tribute to Ronald Reagan dinner. Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Herman Cain addressed the summit earlier Friday.