A Man In Washington D.C. Sheltered Protestors For The Night And Fed Them Pizza
When protestors in Washington, D.C. were blocked into a residential neighborhood by law enforcement after the city-wide curfew, a nearby homeowner invited them inside. Rahul Dubey opened up his house for protesters as a place to charge their phones, use the bathroom, and eat.
The Washington, D.C. curfew was set at 7 p.m., and when the curfew approached on June 1, many protesters were sprayed with mace and caught in a crowd of individuals trying to leave the area. One protester, who asked to only be identified by his Twitter handle @MekaFromThe703, told CNN that that was when he saw Dubey waving people into his home for shelter.
"I just ran towards the steps, ran up the steps, and just started to get inside as quick as possible," he said: "In the moment, I didn't know if it was the right decision, but I guess it was." He shared a thread of the incident on Twitter, with videos of protestors being arrested outside and videos from inside Dubey's home where some protestors were recovering from mace.
They shot mace at peaceful protesters is a residential neighborhood. The man who took us in is named Rahul Dubey. He gave us business cards in case they try to say we broke in. pic.twitter.com/gKzmrvCa75
— Meka (@MekaFromThe703) June 2, 2020
In an interview with ABC affiliate WJLA, Dubey explained the first 30 minutes of him sheltering around 70 protestors was chaos. Individuals used milk and his bathtub to recover from pepper spray. After that, conversations ensued about what was going on, and what they could do better at any upcoming demonstrations to avoid a similar outcome.
"Then we got hungry," Dubey told the outlet, explaining that local pizza joint Duccini's Pizza delivered food for the protestors in the middle of the night and that neighbors dropped off food as well.
The next morning, once the curfew was lifted at 6 a.m., all of the protestors safely left Dubey's home from the back.
"I'm absolutely grateful that these heroes and these souls that were able to find shelter inside are home safe. That was the number one thing throughout the entire night," he told WJLA. "I hope that my 13-year-old son grows up to be just as amazing as they are."
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