A decades-long peace vigil outside the White House is dismantled after Trump’s order

By PABLO MONSIVAIS and FARNOUSH AMIRI WASHINGTON AP Law enforcement executives on Sunday removed a peace vigil that had stood outside the White House for more than four decades after President Donald Trump ordered it to be taken down as part of the clearing of homeless encampments in the nation s capital Philipos Melaku-Bello a volunteer who has manned the vigil for years explained The Associated Press that the Park Police removed it early Sunday morning He declared executives justified the removal by mislabeling the memorial as a shelter The difference between an encampment and a vigil is that an encampment is where homeless people live Melaku-Bello reported As you can see I don t have a bed I have signs and it is covered by the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression The White House proven the removal telling AP in a comment that the vigil was a hazard to those visiting the White House and the surrounding areas Taking down the vigil is the latest in a series of actions the Trump administration has ordered as part of its federal takeover of policing in the city which began last month The White House has defended the intervention as needed to fulfill Trump s executive order on the beautification of D C Melaku-Bello disclosed he s in touch with attorneys about what he sees as a civil rights violation They re choosing to call a place that is not an encampment an encampment just to fit what is in Trump s agenda of removing the encampments he disclosed The vigil was started in by activist William Thomas to promote nuclear disarmament and an end to global conflicts It is concluded to be the longest continuous anti-war protest in U S history When Thomas died in other protesters like Melaku-Bello manned the tiny tent and the banner which read Live by the bomb die by the bomb around the clock to avoid it being dismantled by executives The small but persistent act of protest was brought to Trump s attention during an event at the While House on Friday Brian Glenn a correspondent for the conservative configuration Real America s Voice stated Trump the blue tent was an eyesore for those who come to the White House Just out front of the White House is a blue tent that originally was put there to be an anti-nuclear tent for nuclear arms Glenn stated It s kind of morphed into more of an anti-American sometimes anti-Trump at multiple times Trump who commented he was not aware of it stated his staff Take it down Take it down in the current era right now Melaku-Bello reported that Glenn spread misinformation when he stated the president that the tent had rats and could be a national assurance peril because people could hide weapons in there No weapons were ascertained he informed AP He reported that it was rat-infested Not a single rat came out as they took down the cinder blocks Amiri released from New York Will Weissert in New York contributed to this assessment