White House peace vigil dismantled after Trump’s order

For more than four decades, a small vigil outside the White House stood as around-the-clock symbol

of America's anti-nuclear movement. On Sunday, it was torn down on the orders of President Donald

Trump. Federal officers moved in just after sunrise, tearing down the tarp and makeshift

supports that shielded demonstrators in Lafayette Square. The White House called it a safety hazard

part of the president's push to beautify Washington. One volunteer said the vigil was wrongly classified as a homeless encampment

He told the AP he had no bed at the site, only signs, and insisted it was protected under the First Amendment

Video cited by The Washington Post shows officers shaking out the tarp and leaving protest material strewn on the ground

One volunteer was briefly cuffed after refusing to move, though police told him the vigil itself could continue without the shelter

The peace vigil began in 1981 as a call for nuclear disarmament

and grew into the longest-running anti-war protests in U.S. history. Ellen Thomas, the founder's widow, told The Post no president before Trump had directly ordered its removal

Separately, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton defended the protest, calling the vigil an expression of free speech, even if some found it unsightly

By Sunday afternoon, volunteers had reassembled their banners. Hundreds of supporters stopped by, proof that even without its tarp, the vigil endures

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