https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/08/wo...
For the thousands hoping to echo the civil rights and anti-Vietnam rallies at Lincoln Memorial by joining the women’s march on Washington the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration: time to readjust your expectations.
That’s because the National Park Service, on behalf of the Presidential Inauguration Committee, filed documents securing large swaths of the national mall and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial for the inauguration festivities. None of these spots will be open for protesters.
The NPS filed a “massive omnibus blocking permit†for many of Washington DC’s most famous political locations for days and weeks before and after the inauguration on 20 January, said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a constitutional rights litigator and the executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.
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“What they’ve done is take all of these spaces out of action,†she said, many of which, the Answer Coalition noted in its press release, are “historic spaces for dissentâ€.
It’s partly a practical issue. Inauguration bleachers and viewing stands started being erected on 1 November and it will take until 1 March to completely clear the major public spaces from all of the inauguration works, said Mike Litterst, spokesman for the NPS.
“They’re construction zones, effectively,†said Litterst.
But the plan greatly limits the options for public protesting.
Answer requested a permit to host a rally along Pennsylvania Avenue the day after the inauguration and was denied.