American Awakening:Anti-war Demonstrators protest drone exhibit in DC museum

US officials have shut down Washington’s National Air and Space Museum after anti-war demonstrators swarmed the building to protest a drone exhibit.

Authorities used pepper spray on protesters trying to enter the building on Saturday, sickening a number of protesters, the Associated Press reported.

Protesters started to enter the museum to demonstrate against displays featuring military drones used during the war in Afghanistan.

“We wanted to go inside and protest at those particular items of destruction, and the crowd was pepper sprayed going in and was forced out of the building,” said Brian Morrison, one of the protesters.

One person was arrested, according to John Gibbons, a spokesman for the Smithsonian Institution which runs the museum and numerous other museums in Washington.

Demonstrators railing against US participation in the war in Afghanistan initially gathered Saturday, along with protesters united with the national Occupy Wall Street movement, in Washington’s Freedom Plaza.

The Occupy Wall Street movement started in New York more than three weeks ago, targeting the nation’s financial sector and various social ills, and has since spread to more than 1,000 cities across the country.