The White House Peace Vigil, after standing for decades, is dismantled

The White House Peace Vigil, widely considered the longest continuous act of political protest in U.S. history, was dismantled by federal law enforcement Thursday night in what activists described as the most direct attack on the protest in its 44-year history.

What was left after demonstrators said National Park Service workers and U.S. Park Police officers closed Lafayette Square and hauled off protest banners, flags and other supplies was the vigil at its most bare: A small handful of protesters lined up on the red brick sidewalk to the north of the White House, holding whatever signs they managed to salvage.

The dismantling of the peace vigil on Thursday came nearly two weeks after President Donald Trump ordered: “Take it down. Take it down today. Right now.” The vigil had been under intense scrutiny ever since Trump’s demand for its removal. In two previous encounters with law enforcement, activists said, the vigil had lost several supplies, including a blue tarp and historic “peace rocks” painted by vigil keepers of years past.

The president’s demand that the vigil be removed on Sept. 5 came after Brian Glenn, a correspondent for the conservative network Real America’s Voice, told Trump during a press gathering that there was “a blue tent” in front of the White House that was “an eyesore.”

Vigil holders said that they were not given any warning late Thursday before federal officers closed Lafayette Square and began to dismantle their protest.

As Park Service officials began to move people out of the square just after sunset, Nadine Seiler said, an officer told her to take what she could carry – or else the protest materials would be declared abandoned property and promptly removed. As she scrambled to fill her arms with what she could lug out of the park, she said, an officer handed her a stack of papers. On it was a letter dated Sept. 12 and signed by National Park Service Superintendent John Stanwich.

The letter, which vigil keepers shared with the Post, states: “You are receiving this letter because you are, or reasonably appear to be, a participant in an ongoing unpermitted demonstration in Lafayette Park.”

The document went on to detail items that the Park Service found to be “out of compliance” with its regulations, including a blue tarp that the superintendent wrote “posed a safety risk by obscuring the view of an approximately four-foot high by eight-foot (or more) area, and it harmed the park’s aesthetic resources.” The letter also noted that the vigil’s footprint seemed to take up more space than any one protester is allotted (according to the NPS letter, that’s three cubic feet of property per person).

But when the Park Service came to remove the vigil on Thursday, demonstrators said the display had already been pared down significantly. There was no tarp, no large signs. A red beach umbrella used as cover for the protesters and their materials was planted over a few folding chairs and plastic crates that contained snacks and water for the vigil holders.

Vigil volunteers said they noticed a growing number of law enforcement in the park just after sunset. Officers announcing Lafayette Square was being closed wasn’t unusual; the park is routinely closed for short periods of time as the president or other dignitaries come and go from the White House grounds.

What was unusual, demonstrators said, were the number of Park Service trucks lined up nearby. Protesters said that NPS officials declared the items left in the park upon its closure to be abandoned, prompting their removal.

The NPS letter notes that “moving forward, regulations regarding property storage and attendance of signs and property will be enforced, including during security closures, unless you are given explicit permission by the Secret Service or USPP that you may leave your property in place.”

When the park reopened, Philipos Melaku-Bello, 63, the vigil’s longest-serving steward, surveyed what remained of the protest to which he has dedicated the better part of his life. On the left armrest of his wheelchair, he balanced a poster board with a handwritten display of the First Amendment.

“This is absolutely an attack – not just on my First Amendment rights, but on the First Amendment of the Constitution,” he said late that night. “We are going to stay here for as long as we can. For as long as seems right.”

The blue tarp that protesters had long used to shelter themselves and their supplies from inclement weather was removed by federal officers on Sept. 7. Days later, activists said, officials confiscated two large, wooden A-frames that propped up various protest signs and political statements.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement on Sept. 7 that: “President Trump is committed to the public safety of DC residents and visitors, as well as the beautification of our nation’s capital. This tent was a hazard to those visiting the White House and the surrounding areas.”

Trump targeted homeless encampments and tents around the District as part of his federal crackdown on D.C. But the peace vigil is not a homeless encampment. It’s a tentlike structure was used by vigil keepers to house literature and supplies – or take shelter from rain, snow or winds. The volunteers maintain homes elsewhere.

The peace vigil began on June 3, 1981, when its founder, William Thomas, appeared outside the White House holding a placard that read “Wanted: Wisdom and Honesty.” Over the years, those who have maintained the vigil have been subject to harassment by police and passersby, many said.

But no president has directly called for the vigil’s removal, said Ellen Thomas, who married William Thomas and helped keep the vigil going from 1984 to 2002.

The vigil – a call for nuclear disarmament and an end to global conflict – is maintained by a rotating cast of volunteers who keep the protest going 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It has survived seven U.S. presidents, countless global conflicts, hurricanes and blizzards, heat waves and floods.

But volunteers who came downtown on Thursday to support what remained of the protest said they felt – in many cases for the first time – like the vigil might be up against a force it could not survive.

“Every day for the last two weeks, we have come back to less and less of the peace vigil,” said Will Roosien, a 24-year-old volunteer who was watching over the vigil when its blue tarp was first removed. “We have come back to less and less of the First Amendment, less and less of the United States.”

Amy Cashman, 42, had signed up to watch over the vigil overnight on Thursday. She arrived, she said, just as the park was being closed and the structure removed.

When the police tape was finally taken down and she was allowed to reenter Lafayette Square, Cashman said, she could hardly believe her eyes.

“I’m so used to seeing the vigil right here, and it was just gone,” she said. “It was stunning. I felt as I was walking back like I was coming here to mourn.”

But Cashman, who has been volunteering with peace vigil since 2013, said she was determined to finish out her shift and keep the protest going.

As the night stretched on and the park emptied out, she grabbed a sign and settled into her usual spot, staring straight at the White House.