Inauguration attendees can no longer enter a security checkpoint on Fourth and C streets, as Black Lives Matter and other activists have assembled a human barricade, Washington Post reported as of 9:00 a.m. this morning.
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“We are here in support of our black and brown brothers and sisters,” Justin Weber, a D.C. activist working with Showing Up for Racial Justice or SURJ, told the Washington Post. “We plan to be here for a little while now, because we pretty effectively shut down the checkpoint.”
The protest has been peaceful, according to both Weber and D.C. police officer Anthony Alioto, with protesters linking arms and sitting in front of the gate near the checkpoint.
Protesters have been singing “I’m gonna let it shine” and waving “Black Lives Matter” flags.
This is not the only attempt by protesters to shut down security checkpoints so that attendees cannot enter.
Protesters tried to close of another security checkpoint at Indiana Avenue and Sixth Street. Police then lifted the barricades, which some protesters had decided to chain themselves to, Weber told the Washington Post.
Another group of protesters formed a line and attendees had to pass through at 13th and F streets.
“Donald Trump has promised more death, disenfranchisement and deportations. We believe him. The violence he will inflict in office, and the permission he gives for others to commit violence, is just beginning to emerge,” representatives from Black Lives Matter wrote in a letter to Mic after Donald Trump was elected.
In the Nov. 2016 statement, the group emphasized their commitment to their goal of ending anti-black state violence.