Washington, DC Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

C. Code § 22-1307(a) makes it unlawful for a person, alone or with others, to crowd, obstruct, or incommode the use of any street, avenue, alley, road, highway, or sidewalk, the entrance of any public or private building, passage through a public building or conveyance, or passage through a park, and then to continue or resume that conduct after a law enforcement officer instructs the person to stop. The offense has two parts: the physical obstruction itself, plus a refusal to comply once an officer intervenes, so a first instruction to clear the sidewalk is the trigger point for liability, not the initial blockage alone.

Subsection (b) folds a related demonstration rule into the same section: it is unlawful to demonstrate in a place where demonstrating is otherwise prohibited and to continue after being told by an officer to stop, with 'demonstration' defined broadly to include marching, congregating, standing, sitting, lying down, parading, or patrolling to persuade the public or protest something. That subsection sits alongside the general crowding ban because both share the same structure: lawful presence turns unlawful only after a refusal to obey a dispersal instruction. C.

01, and imprisoned for not more than 90 days, or both. 01(b)(3), an offense carrying a maximum 90-day sentence caps the fine at $500 per violation. The statute does not require intent to permanently block passage; obstructing a sidewalk with a table, stand, crowd, or stopped vehicle and then ignoring an MPD officer's instruction to clear it satisfies the section on its own terms.