Photo by norland cruz
The National Park Service clarified today that it “has not denied” organizers of the Women’s March on Washington access to gather at the Lincoln Memorial on the day after the inauguration, though it remains an open question whether the group will be able to use the iconic demonstration space.
This comes after several news outlets reported that NPS was blocking the women’s march from demonstrating there, which the agency says is not accurate.
The park service acknowledges a scheduling conflict that may impact the women’s event on the memorial. The Presidential Inaugural Committee has first dibs, according to NPS, and it issues permits on a first-come, first-serve basis.
PIC’s permit to occupy spaces around the National Mall was created a year ago by the park service itself, as has been tradition for decades. The permits are valid from January 6 through January 30.
But the committee doesn’t have to use all of the land that’s granted. This means that it can give up space at the Lincoln Memorial to other groups, which NPS says has happened in previous years.
Alex Stroman, a spokesman for the PIC told The Washington Post that “the committee is still figuring out its plans for inauguration” this year. Meanwhile, about 20 groups who plan to demonstrate in January are currently in permitting limbo, and NPS hasn’t given PIC a deadline for when it needs to officially claim its territory.
The women’s march says it is striving to be an inclusive event that stands in solidarity with all groups that the President-Elect Donald Trump has maligned. “No one person’s pain through this experience is more important or greater than another,” co-organizer Bob Bland told DCist last month, when the event’s planning stages were just beginning. Currently, the Facebook event page shows that 138,000 people plan to attend and 228,000 people are interested.
NPS says it’s working with the organizers and has found other spaces to host their event. And in a post on the event’s website, organizers ask everyone for patience and understanding. They said they met with NPS last month and “the result of that meeting is a unified rally and march plan.”
This story has been updated.
