(from DC Media Group)
Editors note: Lex King was present on the night President Trump ordered the takedown of the William Thomas Memorial Peace Vigil. They gave this first person account of activists’ actions which kept the U.S. Park Police from removing the Peace Vigil entirely. As of Tuesday night, the Peace Vigil was continuing operations and being staffed by multiple activists but without its main tent structure.
“If this tent goes, watch yourself and your families next,” activist Rio Phillips warned a growing crowd on Friday, September 5th. Night had already fallen over the city when he’d received word that the William Thomas Memorial Peace Vigil could be taken down at any moment. Phillips and a group of supporters flocked to Lafayette Square to defend the longest running protest in American history.
The Peace Vigil began in 1981, running 24/7. Vigil keepers used a blue tent to take shelter from the elements and store materials. According to permitting laws in Washington D.C., the tent did not require a permit as long as someone was actively attending to it, meaning the tent couldn’t be left alone for any period of time. That’s why protestors were immediately alarmed when they got the call that the vigil’s attendant had been removed from the tent.
When they arrived at Lafayette Square, police tape blocked the entrance to the park with multiple Park Police officers guarding it. Protestors were stuck on the sidewalk, trying to spot the tent in the dark. Police assured the group they’d closed the square down for a congressional picnic, not to take down the tent, but it did little to quell the group’s fear.
Earlier that day, Trump found out about the Vigil on live television after a right-wing personality levied slanderous accusations that the tent was hiding weapons. Trump responded, “Take it down. Take it down today, right now.”
Full report on DC Media Group: https://dcmediagroup.us/2025/09/09/dc-activists-defended-peace-vigil-before-us-park-police-took-it-down/
Earlier report with more on the raid: https://dcmediagroup.us/2025/09/08/peace-vigil-future-unclear-as-trump-regime-takes-down-and-removes-tent/
