In a spot at the front of the White House in Lafayette Park, sat the longest-running protest in American history — dubbed the “White House Peace Vigil.” As of Thursday night, it has been removed.
In the Oval Office on Sept. 5, a correspondent for Real America’s Voice, Brian Glenn, asked President Donald Trump what he was going to do about an “anti-America and sometimes anti-Trump” display in front of the White House that had been there since 1981.
After clarifying where it was, Trump said, “Take it down. Take it down. Today, right now. Nobody told me that.”
Law enforcement officers began dismantling the site two days later and finished the job Thursday night.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said on Sept. 7, “President Trump is committed to the public safety of D.C. residents and visitors, as well as the beautification of our nation’s capital. This tent was a hazard to those visiting the White House and the surrounding areas.”
The history of the protest
On June 3, 1981, William Thomas stood outside the White House with a sign reading, “Wanted: Wisdom and Honesty,” as a call for nuclear disarmament.
Since then, it has been maintained by rotating volunteers who stay with the protest all day, every day.
“It has survived seven U.S. presidents, countless global conflicts, hurricanes and blizzards, heat waves and floods,” The Washington Post reported.
One 24-year-old protester, Will Roosien, told The Washington Post, “Every day for the last two weeks, we have come back to less and less of the peace vigil. We have come back to less and less of the First Amendment, less and less of the United States.”
The final bits of the decades-long protest included signs with the text of the First Amendment, Palestinian flags and posters calling for Trump to “end the genocide in Gaza.”