Hundreds of Protesters Make Camp Near White House

Hundreds of protesters made camp Thursday night two blocks away from the White House in D.C.'s Freedom Plaza.

The encampment is part of the October 2011 group, a loosely organized movement that marched on K Street yesterday.

Dr. Margaret Flowers, one of the October 2011 group leaders who camped out overnight in the marble stone plaza, said she hoped the protest could be a symbol to the rest of the nation.

"Our greatest hope is that this is the beginning of a transformational nonviolent movement in this country," Flowers told News4, "to really start changing the way things are done here so that we start meeting our human needs, and we get rid of the corporate control of the political process"

Flowers estimated 3,000 joined yesterday's rally in the plaza.  She said protesters had come from far and near, and that one woman had walked 200 miles from West Virginia to join the camp-out.

Protesters with the group Occupy DC have also been camped at nearby McPherson Square since last weekend.

On Friday, the October 2011 group plans on protesting outside the Reagan Building at noon.