Statues and structures around the White House were painted and vandalized during the Gaza ceasefire protest on Saturday, although the National Park Service said officials were still assessing the extent and cost of the damage Sunday amid of a cleanup effort focused on Lafayette Square.
Thousands of protesters, many of whom had arrived by bus from more than two dozen cities, surrounded the perimeter of the White House on Saturday with a wide swath of red fabric, saying they were drawing a red line for President Biden and calling for a cessation -Fire in Gaza. During the demonstration, protesters were seen scrawling graffiti on several sculptures in Lafayette Square.
Jasmine Shanti, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service, said in a statement Sunday afternoon that agency staff were “still assessing the extent of damage caused by Saturday’s rally and march around the White House.” “.
“Notable damage includes graffiti, damage to some structures and damage to park infrastructure in Lafayette Park,” Shanti said, adding at 6 p.m. that “there was still no update on the completion time of the cleanup and repair.” . Shanti did not provide further details about the damage to structures and infrastructure.
A Washington Post reporter who visited the area around the White House on Sunday afternoon saw no damage beyond graffiti. In Lafayette Square, the sculptures were cordoned off with caution tape while workers pressure washed them.
Information on how much the cleanup would cost was not immediately available. The US Secret Service said in a separate statement on Sunday that there were no arrests or permanent damage to White House property or adjacent buildings associated with the ceasefire protests.
Photos from Lafayette Square during the protest show protesters writing at the base of a sculpture of the Comte de Rochambeau, a French army commander who fought alongside George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Messages scrawled on the base of one of the park’s sculptures included “Free Gaza,” “Cease Fire Now” and “Shame on You, Joe.”
A sculpture of Andrew Jackson on horseback in the center of Lafayette Square was covered Saturday in red handprints and painted with purple text that read “Boycott Israel Products.”
On Sunday afternoon, a National Park Service crew was power washing the statues. By around 3 p.m., most of the graffiti on the Andrew Jackson statue had been washed away. But paint, stickers and other markings could still be seen on three of the park’s four central statues, including those built to honor Revolutionary War heroes, such as the statue of the Marquis de Lafayette in the southeast corner of the park.
Other team members were seen using paint stripper, while some park visitors took photos and videos of the cleanup effort. Some graffiti had been scrawled outside the park, including on the exterior of the nearby U.S. Treasury building.
In front of the White House, however, little evidence remained of Saturday’s protest as tourists ate ice cream and posed for photographs outside its doors.
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