Protesters March On Geithner's Bethesda Home

UPDATE: Montgomery County Police tell Patch they were made aware by Washington's Metropolitan Police Department Sunday that buses carrying the protesters were headed into the county.

Police responded and informed the protestors they couldn't deliver the letter because they were not allowed on private property, according to Officer Rebecca Innocenti, a police spokeswoman. The protesters left shortly thereafter, she said.

Officers who responded worked to make sure the protesters were not blocking traffic or pedestrian access, Innocenti said. She wasn't aware whether the protesters had or required a permit.

Original post, 12:30 p.m: Hundreds of protesters arrived in buses and marched on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's Bethesda home Sunday evening, the Huffington Post reports.

The protest was organized by the National People's Action and the National Domestic Workers Alliance to demand a "financial transactions tax, principal reductions for underwater homeowners and an investigation of the bankers who caused the mortgage crisis," according to The Huffington Post.

It's not clear exactly how many protesters took to the home in the quiet Wood Acres neighborhood, but the NPA claims "more than 1,000 people" protested, while the Wall Street Journal estimated the number at "several hundred," the Huffington Post reports.

The protesters knocked on Geithner's door in an attempt to deliver a letter, but no one answered, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The protesters then re-boarded the buses and rode to the Chevy Chase home of Peter Scher, executive vice president and head of corporate responsibility for JPMorgan Chase, according to the Huffington Post.

It's not the first time a Bethesda home has been the target of a major protest. In 2010, SEIU protestors marched on the home of Greg Baer, deputy general counsel for corporate law at Bank of America.

Baer's teenage son, home alone, became frightened and locked himself in a bathroom, according to an account published by Baer's neighbor and journalist Nina Easton.

In the account, Easton wrote:

Now this event would accurately be called a "protest" if it were taking place at, say, a bank or the U.S. Capitol. But when hundreds of loud and angry strangers are descending on your family, your children, and your home, a more apt description of this assemblage would be "mob."

Patch has reached out to Montgomery County Police to determine whether the NPA protesters had a permit and how authorities handle crowd control when it comes to major protests in residential neighborhoods. We've also reached out to the NPA. We'll update this story when we hear back.