Landmark peace vigil outside White House removed

By Caitlin Gibson, Thursday, September 12, 11:17 AM E-mail the writer

A landmark peace vigil that has stood outside the White House in downtown Washington for more than 30 years has been removed by U.S. Park Police, according to Concepcion Picciotto, the legendary protester who has served as the vigil’s longest-running caretaker.

On Thursday morning, there was no sign of the hand-lettered anti-nuclear signs and the white shelter that have been a defining feature of Lafayete Square for decades. Picciotto and her fellow protesters said that the U.S. Park Police dismantled the vigil overnight after an activist who was supposed to be manning a shift at the site walked away.

Park Police spokesman Paul Brooks confirmed that the vigil was taken down by police in the early morning hours after it was observed to be unattended.

Activists at the Peace House, a home in Northwest Washington where the activists who tend to the peace vigil reside, said that Park Police had agreed to return the vigil to Lafayette Park around noon Thursday.

Picciotto said there was never any question in her mind about whether the vigil would continue.

“It is needed now more than ever,” she said. “Look at the situation with Syria.”

Picciotto, 77, has protested outside the White House at the vigil since 1981. She said she was frustrated with the hassle resulting from the dismantling of the vigil, but it would only be another road bump in the long history of a record-holding act of protest.

“This is just so much trouble for nothing,” she said.

The Park Police issued a statement Thursday afternoon saying that the vigil “was abandoned early Thursday morning” and that under the law, “a 24-hour vigil requires no permit but must be continuously occupied.”

The statement went on to say that “once it was determined that the site was abandoned, the officer collected the materials and placed them in a U.S. Park Police storage facility for safe keeping until they could be retrieved by the owner.”

The statement also said that Park Police had “confirmed that the vigil has been reestablished,” but by 1:45 p.m., the vigil materials had not yet been returned to the park.

Picciotto said that the man who was covering the vigil overnight left sometime during the early morning and returned to the Peace House.

“The guy who was supposed to cover the shift just walked away, and the police took the signs,” Picciotto said.

By the time other activists got to the park, Picciotto said, the signs and the vigil shelter were gone.

Peace House manager Feriha Ka said that the protester who was supposed to man the overnight shift left the site early and returned to the house because he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“He is a combat veteran,” she said.

Tighe Barry, a community organizer for Code Pink, a social justice organization, said he contacted the office of Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) on Thursday morning after learning what had happened to the vigil.

“She called the chief of the Park Police,” Barry said. He said he was told by Holmes Norton’s chief of staff that the police had agreed to return the vigil by noon.

Shortly before 1 p.m., Barry spoke with two Park Police officers in Lafayette Square who told him that he could retrieve the vigil materials on Picciotto’s behalf, Barry said.

He was on his way to the Park Police station moments later with a promise to return as soon as he could.

“I am relieved,” Picciotto said. “My signs are coming back.”

stegosaurus posted:

there are three eqally spaced segway ppl in that photo...

it is a good safe distance, plenty of time to stop. good group