MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
There's a curfew in Washington, D.C., from 7 p.m. until 6 a.m. And for dozens of protesters fleeing police Monday night, that meant finding a place to go in a hurry.
RAHUL DUBEY: A full escalator is what it felt like, just pouring into the house. I was screaming downstairs, outside. There's a backyard. Upstairs, there's bedrooms.
MARTIN: That's Rahul Dubey.
DUBEY: I just flung the door open. And I just kept yelling come in. Get in the house. Get in the house.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Dubey says police chased hundreds of protesters onto his street near Dupont Circle, a neighborhood in Northwest D.C. And then he says police cornered them, pinning the protesters with tear gas.
DUBEY: They unleashed pure hell on peaceful protesters right outside my stoop.
MARTIN: Dubey says he welcomed more than 70 people in his rowhouse that night. Once in, they entered recovery mode, pouring milk on themselves to ease the burn of the tear gas.
KELLY: And the whole time, Dubey says, police lingered outside his home.
DUBEY: They waited for us, man, like predators so they could arrest us. We were doing no wrong in my house. I even said they're my guests.
KELLY: Nobody who sheltered at his home was arrested for breaking curfew. They did have to wait through the night until the curfew lifted at 6:00 in the morning.
MARTIN: Dubey calls the night tense for him and his guests. Almost no one slept. And the few who did slept back to back. The moment took off online and in real life.
DUBEY: My neighbors brought pizza. I never met them before. They were leaving notes. A guy running for city council here in Ward 2, 3 o'clock in the morning on - Election Day is today, and he brought over pizzas. Where there is a will, there's a way. He came, and he addressed them. He risked curfew himself.
KELLY: Well, after the curfew lifted, protesters filtered out of Dubey's home, went and found many other supportive neighbors.
DUBEY: There were 50 people deep from the age of 20 that were doing their civic duty in civil disobedience. They were doing that with pride and peacefully.
KELLY: Dubey says he is also proud of his help for their cause.
(SOUNDBITE OF MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO SONG, "NITE AND DRY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.