Today’s Get Equal protest in front of the White House featured aggressive park police, announcing that not only was Pennsylvania Avenue closed (as was done at last month’s protest) — but that the “Park’s closed” as well. A reporter on the video below says that the reporters and public were pushed back to the statue of President Andrew Jackson in the middle of Lafayette Park.
The six arrested are being held overnight and are to appear at D.C. Superior Court at 2 p.m. Wednesday, according to Get Equal. I have an email in to the White House asking who made the decision to close the Park.
[UPDATE: Here's my report at Metro Weekly on the non-response from the White House and the contradictory responses from the Park Police and Secret Service about why this happened.]
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Chris Geidner is the award-winning senior political editor at D.C.'s Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, The American Prospect, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications, as well as at his blog, Law Dork. In 2011, he received the Excellence in News Writing Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his coverage of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal. Prior to moving to D.C. in 2009, he served as an attorney on the senior staff at the Ohio Attorney General's Office and had earlier worked for a leading Columbus law firm. An extended biography can be found