Civil rights group condemns move to block Trump inauguration protests [View all]

Source: france24

A civil rights group on Wednesday urged US officials to free up Washington landmarks for thousands of people planning protests around the inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump.

The Washington-based Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) said the National Park Service (NPS) had handed over control of sites such as the Lincoln Memorial to the private committee overseeing Trump’s inauguration “weeks” before and after the ceremony on January 20.

That move has left at least a dozen protest groups without prime venues, a violation of Americans’ constitutional rights, fund officials said. The Lincoln Memorial is a symbolic reminder as the site of 1960s protests for civil rights and against the Vietnam War.

The National Park Service “has done a massive land grab inhibiting all those who want to exercise their right to free speech,” Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a constitutional rights lawyer and PCJF executive director, said at a news conference.

Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20161209-usa-trump-inauguration-protests-civil-rights-group-condemn-womens-march-washington