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WASHINGTON: Law enforcement officials on Sunday removed a peace vigil that had stood outside the White House for more than four decades after President Donald Trump ordered it to be taken down as part of the clearing of homeless encampments in the nation’s capital.
Philipos Melaku-Bello, a volunteer who has manned the vigil for years, told The Associated Press that the Park Police removed it early Sunday morning. He said officials justified the removal by mislabeling the memorial as a shelter.
“The difference between an encampment and a vigil is that an encampment is where homeless people live,” Melaku-Bello said. “As you can see, I don’t have a bed. I have signs and it is covered by the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression.”
The White House confirmed the removal, telling AP in a statement that the vigil was a “hazard to those visiting the White House and the surrounding areas.”
Taking down the vigil is the latest in a series of actions the Trump administration has ordered as part of its federal takeover of policing in the city, which began last month. The White House has defended the intervention as needed to fulfill Trump’s executive order on the “beautification” of D.C.
Melaku-Bello said he’s in touch with attorneys about what he sees as a civil rights violation. “They’re choosing to call a place that is not an encampment an encampment just to fit what is in Trump’s agenda of removing the encampments,” he said.
The vigil was started in 1981 by activist William Thomas to promote nuclear disarmament and an end to global conflicts. It is believed to be the longest continuous anti-war protest in US history. When Thomas died in 2009, other protesters like Melaku-Bello manned the tiny tent and the banner, which read “Live by the bomb, die by the bomb,” around the clock to avoid it being dismantled by authorities.
The small but persistent act of protest was brought to Trump’s attention during an event at the While House on Friday.
Brian Glenn, a correspondent for the conservative network Real America’s Voice, told Trump the blue tent was an “eyesore” for those who come to the White House.
“Just out front of the White House is a blue tent that originally was put there to be an anti-nuclear tent for nuclear arms,” Glenn said. “It’s kind of morphed into more of an anti-American, sometimes anti-Trump at many times.”
Trump, who said he was not aware of it, told his staff: “Take it down. Take it down today, right now.”
Melaku-Bello said that Glenn spread misinformation when he told the president that the tent had rats and “could be a national security risk” because people could hide weapons in there.
“No weapons were found,” he told AP. He said that it was rat-infested. Not a single rat came out as they took down the cinder blocks.”

TUNIS: More than 1,000 people gathered Sunday at a Tunisian port to welcome an aid boat from Barcelona carrying environmental activist Greta Thunberg and other pro-Palestinian campaigners seeking to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
“We all know why were are here,” said Thunberg. “Just across the water there’s a genocide going on, a mass starvation by Israel’s murder machine.”
European Parliament member Rima Hassan joined crowds at Sidi Bou Said port to greet the Global Sumud Flotilla.
“The Palestinian cause is not in the hands of governments today. It is in the hearts of peoples everywhere,” said Hassan.
She praised the “role that the people play today in the face of the cowardice of states that prevent any solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
Hassan did not say whether she would join the flotilla when it resumes its voyage for Gaza on Wednesday.
Organizers said more than 130 people from various countries have registered to embark on boats from Tunis to join the flotilla.
The Global Sumud Flotilla calls itself an independent organization with no affiliation to any government or political party.
The flotilla departing from Tunis had already been delayed “technical and logistical reasons,” its organizers said.