In quite possibly one of the most badass acts of civil disobedience ever, a group of World War II veterans in D.C. on an “honor flight” visited that war’s memorial today, despite it being closed for the shutdown.

Stars and Stripes reporter Leo Shane first tweeted about the move.

According to Shane, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) “distract[ed] a park police officer while vets and staffers knocked down the fences here.” Fox 5’s Matt Ackland tweeted that it was “several” members of Congress who helped. The veterans are from Mississippi and arrived in D.C. this morning.

All monuments on the National Mall have been barricaded, as the National Park Service is operating with limited personnel because of the government shutdown.

We’re working on contacting the Park Police (their website is offline because of the shutdown) and will update as soon as we can. One Park Police officer at the scene told the Post, “I’m not going to enforce the no stopping or standing sign for a group of 90 World War II veterans. I’m a veteran myself.”

Update: As many have pointed out on Twitter, Rep. King is one politician who has publicly said the shutdown is better than implementing the Affordable Care Act. The National Republican Congressional Committee has also started “a petition to support our veterans storming the WW2 memorial despite the Democrats’ shutdown.”

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