Women had planned a Million Women's march to protest Trump's election at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Protesting on public lands is a time-honored American tradition. Just ask Glenn Beck. But this time, there will be no protests because Donald Trump (see update) has filed a permit barring such a thing from happening.
According to The Guardian:
The NPS filed a “massive omnibus blocking permit” for many of Washington DC’s most famous political locations for days and weeks before and after the inauguration on 20 January, said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a constitutional rights litigator and the executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.
NYMag reports that 126,000 people had already RSVP'd on Facebook, but they will not have access to the monuments or areas ordinarily reserved for public gatherings.
Shortly after the election, women across the country came together to organize a Women’s March on Washington for January 21. The march was set to be held at the Lincoln Memorial, and 136,000 women have already RSVP’d on Facebook. However, given the NPS’s decision to block access to the famous spot, the rally will have to find a different home. Cassady Fendlay, a spokesperson for the women’s march, told The Guardian that the group is in conversations with the police, and that they have secured another location nearby.
The day after Trump's inaugural, the crackdown begins. Fascism has come to America.
Update:
Apparently some naysayers are working hard to justify this by saying, nah, it wasn't Trump at all! Well, look. The Trump Inaugural Committee is indeed, Trump. Get real. Click through the links and you'll see this:
That’s because the National Park Service, on behalf of the Presidential Inauguration Committee, filed documents securing large swaths of the national mall and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial for the inauguration festivities. None of these spots will be open for protesters.
The National Park Service doesn't simply decide to shut down the mall and Pennsylvania Avenue for days to come. The inaugural is over on the 20th. There's no reason at all for the Lincoln Memorial to be off-limits on the 21st. None whatsoever, except that Trump, via his inaugural committee, has made it so.
So spare me all the defensiveness about Dear Leader. You and I damn well know that if Obama had banned such an assembly, post-inaugural, hair would have been lit on fire and more assault weapons purchased immediately.
