House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to President Trump on Monday urging him to remove the barriers he erected around Lafayette Park last week, calling on him to, “tear down these walls.”A locked padlock keeps a metal fence recently erected in front of the White House and meant to keep ... [+] protestors at bay closed on June 2, 2020. - Protesters returned to the area after they were tear gassed on June 1, 2020, to open the way for US President Donald Trump to walk to the church for a photo-op. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP) (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)The barriers, including an 8 foot fence around the entrance to Lafayette Square, were put up last Thursday, following a week of intense protests which culminated in Trump’s decision to clear out demonstrators with tear gas so he could cross the street for a photo-op at St. John’s Episcopal Church. In their letter, Pelosi and Schumer called the clearing of the park “deeply offensive” and a “regrettable political stunt.”“You have now erected heavy, semi-permanent steel fencing to wall off the Square,” they noted. “Reopen Lafayette Square, and allow the public to gather there for you and all the world to hear their voices.”Forbes has reached out to the White House for comment on when or whether they plan to remove the barricades.

Source: Forbes June 08, 2020 20:48 UTC