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Secret Service Shuts Down "Fire Holder" Whitehouse Protest July 2 2012

10mo ago
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Secret Service agents clamped down a student led protest outside the White House on Monday July 2, 2012 consisting of about 30 young protesters who were demanding that President Barack Obama fire his Attorney General Eric Holde, over the Fast and Furious debacle. S.S. Agents on scene used the pretext of an abandoned backpack left on a sidewalk was a "suspicious package," necessitating the closure of the Pennsylvania Avenue pedestrian mall in front of the White House, and Lafayette Park, from protesters and tourists. All pedestrian traffic, including media, were forced to exit via side streets. Officers quickly "secured" the location with bright yellow crime scene tape and brought in bomb-sniffing K-9 dogs. After waiting on the sidewalk behind the police line for about half an hour, a middle-aged woman came forward to claim the backpack, telling agents that she had put her small bag on the ground so she could take a photograph with her family. She declined to be interviewed. The protesters had a National Park Service protest permit from 10 a.m. to noon Eastern Time. Agents began clearing the crowd at 10:43 a.m., giving little information to protesters and tourists as they forced them out of the area. Organizer Oliver Darcy stated in an interview with the Daily Caller that he didn't believe the protest's premature end was an accident. Darcy noted that he and others were demanding the president fire his attorney general over a scandal the White House doesn't want to talk about. "To me, it seems like a bit of an overreaction to evacuate the entire — like — I don't know. Was the White House evacuated?" Darcy said.