The Poor People’s Campaign was a 1968 effort to gain economic and human rights for poor people in the United States. The event was planned by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and carried out under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy in the wake of Dr. King’s assassination. After participants presented their demands to Congress and President Lyndon Johnson a 3,000 person protest camp known as Resurrection City was constructed on the National Mall. The Campaign began on May 12, when demonstrators led by Coretta Scott King demanded an Economic Bill of Rights. Over the next few weeks nine major caravans of poor people from various cities arrived in the District. Marchers participated in a variety of activities throughout the city culminating in the June 19 Solidarity Day rally. On June 23, the demonstration’s permit with the National Park Service expired and some members of Congress called for the immediate removal of the encampment. On June 24 over one thousand police officers arrived to clear the camp of its five hundred remaining residents, many of whom were arrested for refusing to vacate the site.