Reporting from Washington — You wouldn't think a presidential inauguration would require a survivors group. But shortly after thousands of ticket holders were trapped in an underground tunnel beneath the National Mall on Tuesday, a new Facebook group was born: Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom. Membership as of Thursday evening: 3,950.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), head of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which was responsible for the event, has apologized to the distressed visitors -- whose color-coded tickets were purple -- and called for an investigation by the law enforcement agencies that planned the event, which include the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Capitol Police.
"Sen. Feinstein was very displeased," committee spokeswoman Carole Florman said. "Word has gone out to get some answers."
Among the nearly 2 million people who streamed onto the National Mall on Tuesday were thousands of purple-ticket holders. Some were campaign volunteers, some were well-connected donors, others had simply requested tickets from elected officials.
Many arrived five or six hours before the noon swearing-in and were told that gates would open at 8 a.m. They formed themselves into a line that stretched south, more than a mile by many accounts, into the city's 3rd Street tunnel, which is part of Interstate 395 and runs under the Mall.
Then they waited. And waited. Nine o'clock came and went. The line stayed put. Parents grew uncomfortable holding small children because strollers weren't allowed on the Mall. Men relieved themselves against the tunnel walls because there were no portable toilets. To the tune of "We Shall Overcome," they sang "We shall get inside."
Eventually it became clear to people that not only was the line not moving, but that they had no way to get to any part of the Mall in time to take in the inaugural moment. Some later said that the entrance gate to the purple area was closed, seemingly abandoned by security personnel.
"There was no one to aid or guide us," said Pat Silberfeld, a Democratic activist from Beverly Hills. "I guess security totally broke down." Silberfeld, who did not arrive at the tunnel until about 8 a.m. because she had food poisoning, saw a man writing "Free the tunnel people" in the grime of the tunnel wall.
