House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are urging President Donald Trump to take down new security fencing that has been set up in front of the White House.
The letter said that Lafayette Square should be a “symbol of freedom and openness” and argued that the existing security perimeter should be sufficient to protect the White House.
“We therefore urge you to tear down these walls, reopen Lafayette Square, and allow the public to gather there for you and all the world to hear their voices,” the Democratic leaders wrote on Monday.
They continued:
“You have now erected heavy, semi-permanent steel fencing to wall off the Square. Your conversion of this unique public park in the heart of our Nation’s capital to what looks like a militarized zone denies citizens access to the park and sends the worst possible message to the American public and people around the world. Lafayette Square should be a symbol of freedom and openness, not a place behind which the leader of our Executive Branch cowers in fear of protesters who are crying out for justice.”
Additionally, they said it is “not sufficient for your Administration to claim that security needs somehow require the closing of Lafayette Square.”
They noted that the existing security perimeter had been in place for 25 years and “it is simply not credible to claim that the current protests justify the oppressive walls you have erected in response.”
Pelosi and Schumer’s letter comes after the security perimeter outside the White House has been extended and a new security fence erected.
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They also referenced an incident on June 1 when protesters were dispersed from Lafayette Square — in front of the White House — about 20 minutes before a curfew went into effect. They said that move was a “clear violation of the protestors’ First Amendment rights of free of speech and assembly.”
“This deeply offensive action was taken in service of the regrettable political stunt you staged at St. John’s Church that evening,” they added.
Attorney General William Barr has denied that the protesters were dispersed so that Trump could stage a photo op, as IJR reported.