A three-part series on the round-the-clock anti-Trump encampment at Union Station — its founding, its crackdown, and its resurrection.
FLARE 24/7: A Protest in the Heart of the Capital
By Dave Price
🌒 “They came at dawn.”
That was how multiple FLARE activists described the morning of October 3, 2025, when the 24/7 protest encampment at Union Station was forcibly dismantled by U.S. Park Police and National Park Service officials.
It was just after 5 a.m. The sky was still the gray‑blue of early morning. Commuters hadn’t yet begun streaming through Union Station. Columbus Fountain — usually flanked by tents, handmade signs, and the familiar hum of FLARE volunteers starting their day — sat mostly silent.
Then the trucks arrived.
Officers in dark uniforms stepped into the plaza. Rangers with headlamps formed a perimeter. Workers in reflective vests moved toward the tents carrying bolt cutters and tarps.
Within minutes, the quiet was gone.
🚨 The Sweep Begins
According to multiple eyewitnesses, officers approached each tent one by one. Volunteers were shaken awake. Some were told to exit immediately. Others were given just seconds to grab whatever belongings they could hold.
“I only had time to gather my stuff,” said Tori, a volunteer sleeping on-site. “And then we had to leave immediately.”
— Washingtonian, Oct. 3, 2025
Tables were overturned. Signage was pulled down. Boxes of literature, banners, art supplies, rain tarps, chargers, clothing, and food were swept into industrial trucks. The iconic “IMPEACH TRUMP” signs — which had greeted commuters every day since spring — were tossed into piles like debris after a storm.
Another volunteer, Leila, said the loss felt personal:
“We were talking about offering our space to other organizations who cannot get a permit… so now they got rid of us.”
— Washingtonian, Oct. 3, 2025
By sunrise, the 158‑day encampment — the longest-running anti-Trump demonstration of 2025 — no longer existed.
📄 The Paper That Sparked a Firestorm
As tents were torn down, an NPS officer produced what they said was a permit revocation notice. Volunteers were stunned — many had seen no prior warnings, no written citations, no compliance orders.
Dominique Moore, a core FLARE organizer, was blunt:
“There was no contact letting us know there were any violations for us to make corrections.”
— Washingtonian, Oct. 14, 2025
Even stranger, the revocation letter itself appeared irregular.
“It was not printed on official letterhead and had no signature.”
— Washingtonian, Oct. 14, 2025
Some activists initially thought it was a prank, a miscommunication, or even a forged document. But the enforcement occurring around them made one thing perfectly clear: real or not, the government was acting on it.
⚠️ The Allegation: An Assault on an Officer
The most severe claim in the revocation was that the permit holder, Jacob Adams, had “personally assaulted a U.S. Park Police officer.”
There had been no arrest.
There had been no detention.
There had been no incident report filed.
Yet this allegation appeared in the document used to justify dismantling the entire encampment.
As Adams later told reporters:
“I’m right here. I’m the one who supposedly assaulted you… Why aren’t you arresting me?”
— Hill Rag, Oct. 3, 2025
The supervisor on scene allegedly walked away without answering.
FLARE volunteers called the accusation “absurd,” “fabricated,” and “a pretext created after the fact.”
One organizer put it simply:
“Nobody assaulted a police officer… You’d think if somebody did, somebody would be arrested.”
— Hill Rag, Oct. 3, 2025
This moment — this disputed allegation — would become the heart of the controversy.
🧩 Connecting the Dots: The “Higby Incident”
Reporters soon uncovered a bizarre twist.
When a journalist pressed the Department of the Interior for evidence of the supposed assault, officials pointed to a Fox News / New York Post story about a confrontation involving right-wing social media personality Cam Higby.
The problem?
That confrontation had involved an unaffiliated woman — not a FLARE volunteer — and not even someone activists recognized.
FLARE organizers responded immediately:
“The woman… is not affiliated with FLARE. We had never seen her before.”
— Washingtonian, Oct. 14, 2025
Yet the government had apparently connected this unrelated scuffle to the encampment.
How? Why?
Those questions would only intensify in the days ahead.
💸 “They stole everything.” — The Seizure
Once activists were removed, government workers proceeded to load the encampment’s assets into trucks. FLARE estimated over $20,000 in equipment was seized, including:
tents
phones and tablets
speakers and microphones
medical supplies
food donations
protest art
legal documents
personal backpacks, wallets, and clothing
A live streamer named Russell Ellis, who filmed the entire sweep, said:
“They just stole all their stuff. It’s one thing to take somebody’s permit… It’s another thing to steal all their stuff.”
— Washingtonian, Oct. 3, 2025
Another volunteer described watching their possessions hauled away:
“They kidnapped all of our stuff against our will, and it was illegally done.”
— Quoted by WTOP, Oct. 14, 2025
Some of the seized property was taken to storage. Some was reportedly damaged. Much of it activists feared might never be returned.
😡 Shock, Anger, Defiance
By mid-morning, FLARE volunteers had regrouped on the sidewalk across the plaza. Some cried. Others shouted into livestreams. Many simply stared in disbelief at the cleared space where their encampment had stood.
But grief rapidly turned into resolve.
A young volunteer addressed the crowd:
“We’re gonna lawyer up, get our permit back… They left a whole lot of room for us to fight back.”
— Washingtonian, Oct. 3, 2025
That evening, dozens of supporters returned for a rally of indignation in Columbus Circle — occupying the same space from which they had been forcibly removed just hours earlier.
They stood in the cold wind with handmade signs reading:
“WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED.”
“FIRST AMENDMENT = ALWAYS.”
“FLARE LIVES.”
Little did they know, their anger — and the irregularities in the government's actions — would spark a bruising ten-day legal and political fight.
A fight that FLARE would ultimately win.
But that’s the story of Part Three.
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