A protest in front of the White House calling for the firing of Attorney General Eric Holder was shut down before it even began when Secret Service agents spied an unattended bag. 

But the incident appeared to be yet another one of Washington's false alarms -- and had the anti-Holder protesters wondering why their demonstration was cut short. 

"It's definitely one heck of a coincidence. It seemed like an overreaction (by Secret Service agents)," protest organizer and activist Oliver Darcy, of Arlington, Va., told FoxNews.com. 

A group of about 50 activists had gathered near the North Lawn Monday as part of a protest over the ongoing Fast and Furious scandal and were protesting for about 30 minutes before the street was cleared for an unattended backpack.

"The Secret Service agents had asked us if the bag belonged to any of us," Darcy told FoxNews.com. "We told them it didn't, and that's when they cleared the street and shut it down."