A 24-hour encampment organized by a coalition of anti-Trump protesters, which has been operating outside of Union Station for months, was dismantled by the United States Park Police early Friday morning.
The continuous encampment was organized by FLARE USA, a volunteer-led group that calls for “the impeachment and removal” of President Donald Trump. They’ve had tents set up on the lawn of Columbus Circle since May 1, and their activities were allowed by an event permit issued by the US Department of Interior.
Tori, a FLARE volunteer who was working at the encampment this morning, says an Interior Department official entered the tent around 5 AM and told organizers they had to get out. “I only had time to gather my stuff, and then we had to leave immediately,” she says. Then, she reports that authorities put up yellow police tape and started breaking down tents. Video recorded by eyewitnesses shows Park Police employees loading the contents of the tents into trucks. Volunteers say many of these items were their personal belongings, including a speaker, a DJ set, a suit, and art supplies.
“We were talking about offering our space to other organizations who cannot get a permit because of the government shutdown—because we have the existing permit, we have a stage, so we could have hosted other organizations,” says Leila, another FLARE volunteer. “So now they got rid of us.”
According to an Interior Department notice distributed to FLARE participants and viewed by Washingtonian, the event’s permit was revoked purportedly because the permittee “personally assaulted a USPP officer, after failing to comply with the reasonable directions of the officer.” The permittee, Jake Adams, is a FLARE organizer. He denies assaulting an officer, and says that when he showed up to the encampment as it was being dismantled this morning, he asked law enforcement officials, “Why aren’t you arresting me? I assaulted a police officer, right?” The notice was not printed on official letterhead and had no signature from an Interior Department official.
In response to a request for comment from Washingtonian, which asked specifically about the alleged assault on a police officer, an Interior Department spokesperson issued the following statement: “The permitted event violated the terms of their permit. The permit was revoked, and the event was removed.” The spokesperson also included a link to a New York Post webpage featuring a republished Fox News article, which describes a “physical confrontation” on Wednesday between conservative activist Cam Higby and a woman who was recorded pushing Higby and grabbing his hat. The woman then fell into a bush and Higby pepper-sprayed her. Adams says that the woman in the video is not affiliated with FLARE, and he had never met her before that incident.
“They said we can petition to get our stuff back—we’re gonna lawyer up, get our permit back, all the legal steps, because they left a whole lot of room for us to fight back,” Adams says. FLARE will host a protest in Columbus Circle at 5 PM Friday evening to rally against the loss of their permit. “FLARE itself is not going anywhere. We’re going to fight back every step of the way, and they’re not coming after FLARE itself—just our ground presence—which is telling enough.”
