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Donald Trump orders ‘take down’ of 44-year-old peace vigil opposite White House.

8 Sept 25, https://news.sky.com/story/donald-trump-orders-take-down-of-44-year-old-peace-vigil-opposite-white-house-13425982

The White House Peace Vigil has stood near the White House since 1981, calling for global disarmament. After a reporter asked about the “eyesore” tent, Donald Trump said he will look into taking it down.

One of the world’s longest-running peace vigils could be under threat after Donald Trump ordered to “take it down”.

The White House Peace Vigil, which has stood near the president’s residence since 1981, is a tent manned around the clock in a call for peace and global disarmament.

Flanked by various anti-war placards, the small blue tent was described as an “eyesore” by a reporter from conservative outlet Real America’s Voice, who asked Mr Trump about it.

“Take it down, today, right now,” he said, after asking where the tent is and claiming he hadn’t heard of it.

“We’re going to look into it right now.”

On Friday night, police were seen talking to what appeared to be demonstrators near the vigil, in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House.

The vigil-keeper Philipos Melaku-Bello was seen hugging another protester, who feared the 44-year-old site could be torn down.

It follows another threat against the vigil earlier this year, when Representative Jeff Van Drew wrote a letter to the Interior Department describing the site as a “24-7 eyesore”.

In the letter, shared by the Washington Post, he said people have “every right to protest their government”, but not to “hijack a national park and turn it into a 24/7 eyesore”.

The site of the vigil is in a park run by the National Park Service (NPS), which stipulates this tent must be manned at all times to remain standing.

In 2013, the vigil was briefly taken down by park police when it was found abandoned.

Organisers said the man responsible for staying at the tent overnight that day was a veteran who had an episode of post-traumatic stress disorder.

September 8, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA