title:  Trump Gets His Safe Space As Women’s Protest Is BARRED From Inauguration Site
text: Trump cannot handle dissent. He cannot handle people who don t like him and won t kiss his rings and his boots. He cannot handle protests, as he proved during his campaign when he had protesters hauled out of his venues, sometimes forcibly. The Women s March on Washington had been organized for the Lincoln Memorial for the day after the inauguration   Jan. 21   and they ve been denied the permit to do it. The Presidential Inauguration Committee filed what s being called a  massive omnibus blocking permit  for the area for many days before and after the event.It s extremely unusual for the inauguration permit to block other events for several days after the inauguration. Before and during, sure. After, though? Mara Veyrheyden-Lilliard has filed lawsuits to get protesters access to the Lincoln Memorial on Inauguration Day. Since the Women s March was scheduled for the day afterward, she doesn t understand what s going on: It hasn t come up in any way previously, where you ve had a groundswell of people trying to have access on the Saturday, January 21, and thousands of people want to come, and the government is saying we won t give you a permit. It hasn t come up in any way previously, where you ve had a groundswell of people trying to have access on the Saturday, January 21, and thousands of people want to come, and the government is saying we won t give you a permit. She went on to say: We ve issued the demand to the parks service because this is an illegal abridgment of first amendment rights   We expect they ll conform to the constitution and make permits available. It s true that the Presidential Inauguration Committee filed for their permit ten months before the Women s March on Washington filed for theirs, and that there are a limited number of permits to go around so it s  first come, first serve.  Mike Litterst, of the National Park Service, which is the agency that issues these permits, said that the Lincoln Memorial and the rest of the National Mall will be available to the public during all these events   just not for organized events needing a permit. These sites are essentially construction sites, he says, and thus, not suitable for other organized events. The Women s March is expected to have well over 100,000 attendees and so of course it requires a permit from the National Park Service.Come on, though. The inauguration is on the 20th, the Women s March is on the 21st. They seriously can t get a permit for that day? Now the options for public protests along the National Mall are extremely limited, possibly until March 1, which is when deconstruction of the inauguration venue is supposed to be complete.Since the Lincoln Memorial is the site of many historic protests, including the 1995 Million Man March, it makes sense that the Women s March would want to gather there, too. They ve secured another site nearby, but it probably won t have quite the same symbolism as it would at the Lincoln Memorial.Featured image by Steve Pope via Getty Images