The 1st Admendment doesn’t seem to apply to Donald Trump.
Protest at Trump’s inauguration are being block by Trump’s own Presidential Inauguration Committee.
That’s because the National Park Service, working on behalf of Trump’s Presidential Inauguration Committee, has reserved almost all of Washington D.C.’s iconic public protest spaces–large parts of the National Mall, Lincoln Memorial, and Washington Monument–for Trump’s inauguration, effectively blocking activists from getting their own permits. [2]
Even the international press is looking at the United States nazi like policies to block the 1st Amendment.
That move has left at least a dozen protest groups without prime venues, a violation of Americans’ constitutional rights, fund officials said. The Lincoln Memorial is a symbolic reminder as the site of 1960s protests for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. [1]
Hundreds of thousands of people from across the country plan to pour into the nation’s capital to protest Donald Trump’s inauguration in late January. But the National Park Service has reserved most of D.C.’s iconic public spaces for the exclusive use of Trump’s Inaugural Committee, not just on Inauguration Day itself but for the weeks leading up to and following the ceremony. Protest groups will have no access to these spaces unless the Committee voluntarily gives up their permits, which they have no incentive to do.[4]
ABC News is reporting:
Attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund — who has successfully litigated on behalf of protesters in Washington for more than a decade — threatened legal action against the park service if it does not rescind a permit the agency itself took out to block groups from using land around the White House and the National Mall for demonstrations.
The park service historically reserves space for use by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, but Verheyden-Hilliard said the denial of protest permits has gone too far this time and is unconstitutional.
“This is public land. This land belongs to all of us. The park service’s role is only to act as a neutral administrator and steward of public land,” she said. “They have done a massive land grab, to the detriment of all those who want to engage in free speech activities.” [5]
Huge Trump protest planned for Inauguration Day. Is there protest organized in your town yet?If not,get organizing! https://t.co/0ZnKjlQsb7
— The DJT Resistance (@TheDJTR) December 6, 2016
But it appears that some groups do have the ear of the National Park Service causing some folks to wonder whether the NPS is serving all citizens.
Groups planning to protest President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next month monopolized the National Park Service permits to use public spaces around Washington during the event — until Bikers for Trump showed up. [6]
References:
- France 24, December 9, 2016 – Civil rights group condemns move to block Trump inauguration protests
- Fusion, December 9, 2016, Katherine Krueger – The fate of the major protests against Donald Trump’s inauguration is in Trump’s hands
- Fox News, December 7, 2016 – Michael Moore calls for protesters to ‘disrupt’ Trump’s inauguration
- Think Progress, December 7, 2016 – Trump gets to decide where in DC groups can protest his inauguration — if at all
- ABC News, December 7, 2016 – Ben Nuckols [Associated Press] – Attorney: Park Service Quashing Dissent During Inauguration
- The Washington Times, December 5, 2016, S.A. Miller – Bikers for Trump secure space for inauguration amid several planned protests
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