NATION : Police Defend Protest Estimate
U.S. Park Police, although “bombarded” by protests, said today that they had no reason to increase their estimate that 200,000 people attended a weekend anti-abortion rally at the Capitol.
Sgt. Karl Ore, answering the telephone in the Park Police chief’s office, said the lines have been flooded by calls since the estimate was made at 4 p.m. Saturday. The callers claimed that a larger crowd attended the event.
“We’ve been bombarded by calls, but that won’t change a thing,” he said. Ore noted that “we’ve been making these estimates for 30 years” and that sponsors have been disputing them for the same amount of time.
“The estimate is one we can justify,” he said.
Organizers of the rally claimed that the crowd reached at least 500,000.
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