White House peace vigil dismantled after Trump’s order

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00:00For more than four decades, a small vigil outside the White House stood as a round-the-clock symbol

00:05of America's anti-nuclear movement. On Sunday, it was torn down on the orders of President Donald

00:11Trump. Federal officers moved in just after sunrise, tearing down the tarp and makeshift

00:19supports that shielded demonstrators in Lafayette Square. The White House called it a safety hazard,

00:25part of the president's push to beautify Washington. One volunteer said the vigil was

00:31wrongly classified as a homeless encampment. He told the AP he had no bed at the site,

00:37only signs, and insisted it was protected under the First Amendment.

00:41Video cited by The Washington Post shows officers shaking out the tarp and leaving

00:46protest material strewn on the ground. One volunteer was briefly cuffed after refusing to move,

00:51though police told him the vigil itself could continue without the shelter.

00:56The peace vigil began in 1981 as a call for nuclear disarmament and grew into the longest-running

01:03anti-war protest in U.S. history. Ellen Thomas, the founder's widow, told The Post no president

01:09before Trump had directly ordered its removal. Separately, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton

01:15defended the protest, calling the vigil an expression of free speech, even if some found it unsightly.

01:21By Sunday afternoon, volunteers had reassembled their banners. Hundreds of supporters stopped by,

01:27proof that even without its tarp, the vigil endures.

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