A longstanding peace vigil opposite the White House has not been dismantled despite President Donald Trump‘s insistence that it be removed.
On Monday morning, the anti-war encampment and two spokespeople manning it were still in Lafayette Park, the Washington Examiner found.
A spokeswoman claimed that the Trump administration removed part of the vigil on Friday after Trump said to “take it down.” The vigil features several anti-war and anti-Trump signs and a large umbrella.
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“They came and took what was our rain structure that kept our tarps and our books and our things dry and kept us out of the rain and snow because we’re here 24/7 for 44 years,” said Shell, who declined to give her last name to the Washington Examiner.
“But they didn’t remove us or our voices, so we’re still here,” Shell continued defiantly.
Another spokesman, Neal Cousins, told the Washington Examiner the peace vigil has the right to remain, citing the First Amendment freedoms of the press, religion, and assembly.
Cousins was less forthcoming about what the group will do if Trump gets his way and the vigil is removed. “Well, we’ll have to decide that then,” he said about what comes next.
“I was here protesting the Vietnam War, long before this,” Cousins said about returning if they are removed. “I don’t know how long I’ll live, but there will be many others.”
The vigil has remained in Lafayette Park for seven presidents after it was founded in 1981 by William Thomas. It is the nation’s longest continuous act of political protest. Thomas died in 2009, but the vigil continues.
However, Trump may have mistakenly assumed the vigil was a homeless encampment and called for its removal on Friday as part of his 30-day takeover of Washington’s police force to crack down on crime.
Real America’s Voice journalist Brian Glenn called the vigil an “eyesore” during Trump’s Friday announcement rebranding the Defense Department as the War Department.
Trump claimed on Monday that the vigil was removed during a speech to supporters.
“We had a blue tent right on Lafayette, and they seemed to have a permit,” Trump said Monday while addressing the White House Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible. “And one of the fake news media was asking me the other day, ‘What about the blue tent?’ What blue tent?”
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The blue tent indeed was gone on Monday, but in its place was an oversized red umbrella.
“Somehow these people were very well connected with the communist cause,” he continued. “We got it down very quickly. It’s down. It wasn’t easy. People chained themselves to a tree and this and that, but that’s OK.”
