WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS DESTROY PROTEST SIGNS
Buffalo News
June 24, 1984
United Press International
Washington - Federal officers Saturday dismantled gaudy
billboard-sized protest signs that were visible from Inside the
While House, citing the technicality that demonstrators manning
them had fallen asleep and were camping illegally In Lafayette
Square.
U.S, Park Police watch commander Lt. Paul Bolton sald five
people were arrested Saturday for snoozing in the park across
Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, and after they were
taken away, the signs were under no one's control.
'There was nobody there to leave the signs with, who claimed to
be with the demonstration, so we are reponsible for everything,"
Lt Bolton said.
Through the morning, work crews under supervision of the Park
Police broke down and carted away the approximately 12 signs, at
least one of them painted on a wooden platform the size of a
small billboard. "God is Absolute," the sign read In Dayglo
orange
The signs, some of them depicting nuclear holocaust, had been
there for months. along with a rotating group of protesters.
demonstrating on issues from disarmament to treatment of the
homeless.
"The people who were occupying the space set aside for
demonstrations where tn violation of camping regulations," Lt.
Boston said. "They were asleep, they had personal gear and
foodstocks, and that's a violation." The misdemeanor charge
carries a $50 fine.
The signs were dearly visible from the north portico of the
White House and from through the window of the State Floor, used
for official parties and state dinners.
A case is pending before the Supreme Court on the issue of
whether "street people" have the right to sleep In a
"Reaganville" camp In the park as a form of speech protesting
conditions for the homeless.
Pennsylvania Ave. Closure || Peace Park