Thread by @benjaminwittes

Sunday!
Operation Encirclement is happing.
Beginning 10:00 am and continuing until the entire russian embassy is surrounded with sunflowers.
Where? The Gates of Hell on Wisconsin Ave, NW and anywhere else you can #PlantBackBetter near a russian diplomatic facility

As the russians ripped up the sunflowers they planted in April—in what has to be understood as a metaphor for the war more broadly—I would like to invite @OMarkarova and the entire staff of the Ukrainian Embassy in DC to join us once again.

So what do we need for Operation Encirclement?
(1) You! Your friends, family, kids, dates, and strangers you meet on the street!
(2) Sunflower seeds
(3) Gardening tools
(4) Snacks
(5) Watering cans
And
(6) The desire to send a message to the russians.

I remind DC residents that whoever it was who uprooted our sunflowers committed crimes. Some of these were on private property: people’s stoops and stairs.
If you want to send a message to whoever did this that such behavior is not okay in rule of law countries, #plantbackbetter!

I would also like to invite @MayorBowser to join us to send a message to foreign diplomats from authoritarian countries: We can’t control what you do at home, but don’t try to pull this Checkist shit in our city.

Finally, I want to be really clear what this is about. It is about not forgetting about #Ukraine when the news moves on, when domestic politics heat up, and when our attention spans are short. So come join us. You will meet a lot of good people. And you will encourage others.