A months-long protest encampment in front of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s house has been removed.
The round-the-clock, pro-Palestinian protest started in January of this year along the 400 block of N. Chain Bridge Road in Arlington. It featured protesters holding signs, waving flags and — occasionally — dumping fake blood on the street in front of a motorcade.
Eventually, concrete barriers were placed on the sides of the street to protect the protesters and their tents from vehicular traffic on the narrow, sidewalk-less roadway. Arlington County police were dispatched to help watch the crowd at the request of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service numerous times over the past six months.
Last week, ARLnow received a tip that a removal of the protest was imminent.
“Law enforcement have asked the protesting organizers to meet them under a bridge oddly, where a VDOT employee threatened arrest in front of Virginia state and Arlington County police,” the tipster said. “They refused to offer any official notice or documentation when requested by the attorney representing the protesters who was present at the time.”
This morning, Chain Bridge Road — also known as State Route 123 — was closed while VDOT carried out the removal operation. Some protesters gathered on the sidewalk at the intersection with N. Glebe Road to continue demonstrating, but none were present when ARLnow drove by this afternoon.
“VDOT has determined that the present condition of the 400 block of Chain Bridge Road — which includes people, as well as concrete barriers, tents, flags, and other items occupying VDOT’s right-of-way — is unsafe for motorists, bikers, and pedestrians and blocks access to emergency vehicles and personnel,” the state transportation department said in a statement, in response to an inquiry from ARLnow.
“Due to these unsafe conditions, the road has been returned to its original state in order to ensure the safety of the traveling public on Virginia’s roadways,” VDOT added. A planned closure of the northbound GW Parkway is expected to detour a significant amount of traffic onto Route 123 over the next two weekends.
At least a dozen Virginia State Police vehicles could be seen parked along the road in Arlington and Fairfax County this afternoon. A VSP spokeswoman told ARLnow that state police only had a supporting role in the VDOT operation.
“VSP was only there to provide traffic control and support VDOT,” said Corinne Geller.
Arlington police briefly responded to the Glebe and Chain Bridge intersection this morning to make sure protesters were not blocking the roadway, but left after confirming they were on the sidewalk.
Asked about a possible removal of the protest last week, an Arlington County spokesman deferred to state agencies.
“The Commonwealth of Virginia has jurisdiction over Route 123/Chain Bridge as this is a VDOT right-of-way,” said Ryan Hudson.
In a press statement Saturday, protest organizers said they believe the county and ACPD “had nothing to do with these decisions— we believe the conduct was done contrary to Arlington County’s position for the past 6 months.”
This morning dozens of Virginia State Police troopers and @VaDOT crews cleared the 6 month long protest encampment outside @SecBlinken Chain Bridge Road home. @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/3tHtlulQWh
— tednbc4 (@tednbc4) July 26, 2024
