“The National Park Service continues to work with the Gathering for Justice (also commonly referred to as the Women’s March on Washington) and has identified locations where the group can hold its event on January 21.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Emily Mamula

From the National Park Service:

“Providing the space required for the Presidential inauguration, while also accommodating the free speech rights of protesters and supporters, is a longstanding responsibility for the National Park Service. The National Park Service continues to work with the Gathering for Justice (also commonly referred to as the Women’s March on Washington) and has identified locations where the group can hold its event on January 21. The National Park Service has not denied their permit to use the Lincoln Memorial and will continue to work with all of those who have permit requests pending for that space on January 21.

The Lincoln Memorial may not be available for additional permitted events on January 21 because the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) and the American Constitution Society put in permits for that space before the Gathering for Justice group. When there is a conflict of time and location for events on the National Mall, precedence is established by the order in which the permit application was received. The PIC may choose to release the Lincoln Memorial space on January 21, and if that happens, the space could be made available for other permits.

It is the longstanding practice of the National Park Service to create an application on behalf of the PIC in advance of the inauguration, in order to start the complex planning process for inauguration.

The Lincoln Memorial is among the sites permitted to the PIC to stage the inaugural opening celebration and the PIC permit would have been issued for this timeframe, regardless of which candidate had won the election.”