ALL PERMITS OBTAINED FOR SEPT. 29 MARCH & RALLY /ASSEMBLY LOCATION CHANGED 9/26/01--The national march on September 29 in Washington DC in opposition to war and racism will assemble for a rally at Freedom Plaza – 14th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The rally will be followed by a march to the Justice Department, the Navy Memorial (both located on Pennsylvania Avenue) and conclude with a rally in Upper Senate Park across from the Capitol building.
The change in the assembly site from Lafayette Park in front of the White House to Freedom Plaza at 14th and Pennsylvania prevents an eleventh-hour effort by the Bush administration to disrupt the demonstration. The Bush administration used the Secret Service to announce a ban on demonstrators using Lafayette Park for peace and anti-war protests during the next thirty days. The International A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) obtained all of the necessary permits last Wednesday for a rally at Lafayette Park and on the sidewalk in front of the White House, which would be followed by a march down Pennsylvania Ave. and concluding at the Capitol.
The Secret Service and the National Parks Service notified I-A.N.S.W.E.R. late today, Tuesday, September 25, that they were revoking the permits in Lafayette Park and the Ellipse. The Secret Service is unconstitutionally using the pretext of security for political purposes, just as Richard Nixon tried to use the Secret Service to bar demonstrations in front of the White House during the Vietnam War.
One of our main messages to anti-war activists right now is this: Our mass anti-war mobilization on the 29th in the DC has not been stopped. Thousands of people will take Freedom Plaza on Sept. 29th, and this will allow the mass organizing for Sept. 29 to go on unimpeded and without uncertainty in these last critical days before the demonstration.
The Sept. 29 march and rally has gained great support from across the country. Thousands of people are coming from as far away as California, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Maine and everywhere in between, including thousands from New York City.
P.S. The ban on demonstrations by Secret Service is for a 30-day period and the language of the banning order would allow the Secret Service unfettered discretion in renewing the ban on demonstrations for months and years to come. The I-A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition will carry out a legal challenge in the near future to the Secret-Service-imposed ban on demonstrations at Lafayette Park and the White House sidewalk.