Trump orders takedown of longtime protest tent at White House
President Trump ordered the removal of the White House Peace Vigil on Friday, marking an end to a 44-year protest against the nation’s nuclear weaponry and warfare.
A reporter informed the president of the ongoing protest — now manned by Philipos Melaku-Bello and a group of rotating volunteers — Friday in the Oval Office, describing the long-standing tent as an “eye sore” for visitors supported by the “radical left.”
“I didn’t know that. Take it down. Take it down today, right now,” Trump told staffers inside the White House.
The president has pledged to erase homeless encampments across Washington, D.C., in an effort to clean the streets ahead of the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding.
Unhoused residents have faced a swarm of police officers and National Guard soldiers in recent weeks who have detained them for sleeping outside.
However, the peace vigil in Lafayette Park stands out as a permanent stakeout for free speech and is widely known as the longest continuous act of political protest in U.S. history.
Activist William Thomas propped up the free standing structure in June 1981 parallel to the North Lawn, where dignitaries and world leaders arrive for discussion and dissent.
As years flew by, Thomas remained posted out front of the White House and faithfully manned the station through the course of seven presidents and various wars, until his death in 2016.
Melaku-Bello then took over the site with tattered signs that read “Ban All Nuclear Weapons or Have a Nice Doomsday” and “Live By the Bomb, Die By the Bomb” as a reminder of their push for peace to all who pass by, The Washington Post reported.
Over the years, the tent has drawn the attention of members of Congress who’ve either supported or condemned the collective mission of the White House Peace Vigil.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) was inspired by the protesters and has repeatedly introduced the Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Conversion Act on behalf of the group.
The legislation would redirect funding for nuclear weapons to other causes, such as the climate crisis, and human and infrastructure needs, such as housing and health care.
Norton has said it would help reestablish the country’s “moral leadership in the world.“
While she’s rallied behind the demonstrators, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) has advocated for the encampment to be swiftly removed, citing “public safety hazards” in addition to “aesthetic and historical degradation.”
“No group should be above the law, and the continued allowance of this permanent occupation sends the wrong message to law-abiding Americans,” Van Drew wrote in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum obtained by the Post.
“This isn’t about stopping protest. It’s about upholding the rule of law, preserving one of America’s most iconic public spaces, and ending a double standard that’s made a mockery of both,” he added.
However, Norton told the Post that protesters are well within their right to peacefully assemble outside of the White House on public property.
“The First Amendment protects peaceful protests, even when they’re seen as unsightly or inconvenient, and even when they occur in front of the White House,” Norton said in the statement.
“The Peace Vigil has stood in front of the White House for more than 30 years, with its organizers engaged in principled activism at considerable personal cost. If Representative Van Drew’s claim that the vigil creates public safety hazards were valid, it would have been removed long ago.”