While President Donald Trump’s proposal for a new arch in the nation’s capital received a key approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday, a gathering outside the hearing on the project protested the plan.
During the presentation, approximately 150 people, many in costume, protested outside the National Building Museum, where the hearing took place.
“This arch will dwarf everything around it 鈥� it will be more than twice the height of the Lincoln Memorial,” said one protester, during a news conference, set up across F Street. “It will block the view from Arlington cemetery, across the bridge, to the Lincoln Memorial.”
The proposed 250-foot tall arch would be built at the end of the Memorial Bridge, right across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial. The arch would feature a statue of a Lady Liberty-like figure, flanked by two eagles and four lions at its base.
The seven-member Commission of Fine Arts, all Trump appointees, approved the concept design of the arch Thursday.
Another protester called the arch a vanity project.
“If this ridiculous ‘Arc de Trump’ ever gets built, whose name do you think will be on it?” he asked. “He’s going to slap his name on it the moment he gets the chance to, because that’s what he does with everything.”
Citing the Kennedy Center, he said, “Donald Trump’s desperate need to remake Washington, D.C., and this country in his image is hurting everyone.”
Despite the vote of approval by the Commission of Fine Arts, the protesters encouraged each other to continue challenging the project, which is still subject to a review of an updated design of the arch before a final vote.
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