No Protesters, Only 'Bikers for Trump' Given Inaugural Permits

While thousands of people are planning protests around the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, only one group has been given a permit by Washington, D.C. to be there — Bikers for Trump.

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The group is planning the participation of about 5,000 members in John Marshall Park, right along the Inaugural Parade route. On Dec. 5, they were granted an official permit to park their motorcycles on Pennsylvania Ave as Trump passes by.

According to Mic, the group “applied for an area no one else had applied for,” and talked to the National Park Service “before they submitted an application."

The Washington-based Partnership for Civil Justice Fund said the National Park Service had handed over control of sites such as the Lincoln Memorial to the private committee overseeing Trump's inauguration.

The move had left at least a dozen protest groups without prime venues, a violation of constitutional rights, PCJF officials said.

The National Park Service "has done a massive land grab inhibiting all those who want to exercise their right to free speech," Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a co-founder of PCJF, said at a news conference.

Trump's election on Nov. 8 led to days of protests by people who said the New York businessman and former reality TV star promoted racism, bigotry and misogyny in his campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

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National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst said agency rules in place since 2008 give an inaugural committee preferential access to some public areas along Pennsylvania Avenue, the National Mall and surrounding land.

A federal court has upheld the rules, citing that most public sidewalks along the parade route down Pennsylvania Avenue, the boulevard running from the Capitol to the White House, are open to protesters. The NPS is reviewing the pending applications, Litterst said in an email.

The Partnership for Civil Justice said that it was the first time in recent memory that permits to the land had been extended to a private inauguration committee in the days around a president's swearing-in. But it said that despite the decision, city law allowed peaceful street protests to go ahead without permits.

The fund is prepared to sue to get the permits pulled so protesters may gather near the White House and the National Mall, Verheyden-Hilliard said.

District of Columbia officials are expecting about a million people for the inauguration and events surrounding it.

Several groups have vowed to demonstrate. More than 135,000 people have said they would take part in a march for women's rights the day after the ceremony on Jan. 21.