Concepcion Picciotto (L) stands near her signs and hut across the street from the White House March 4, 2009 in Washington, DC. Picciotto has lived in Lafayette Square on the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House, since August 1, 1981 in protest of nuclear arms. She was born Concepción Martín in Vigo, Spain, in 1945, and emigrated to the US at the age of 18.
Photo: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images
On Thursday morning, U.S. Park Police removed the signs and shelter belonging to Concepcion Picciotto, who has been holding a continuous vigil across the street from the White House for 32 years. She needs no permit because the site is constantly attended, but someone holding the spot overnight Wednesday left, telling an officer their relief hadn’t shown up, so the officer collected the unattended materials, Park Police said. But you don’t sit within view of the White House for three decades without making some connections. Washington’s congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton helped Picciotto retrieve her stuff, and she was back protesting by 3 p.m.
