In protest against President Donald Trump’s policies on immigration and the recent controversy over the “Muslim Ban,” several activists bravely scaled the base of the Statue Of Liberty on Tuesday, hanging a large banner reading in red letters “Refugees Welcome” underneath Lady Liberty’s skirt. The four activists hung the banner up there at around 12:45 pm and it managed to stay there for over three hours, when the National Parks Service finally came and tore it down shortly prior to 4 pm.

As reported by the New York Post, the group’s main idea man, named only as David, said they wanted to make a stand and a statement in response to President Trump’s controversial policies on both immigration and the so-called “Muslim Ban.” David lives in Brooklyn and said that the immigration matter is actually very personal to him, as his own grandparents met in a World War II refugee camp, following which his mother immigrated to the U.S.

He carried on by saying they want to remind people of America when it is at its best, adding that the U.S. is a “beacon of freedom” in the world that was built by immigrants. He said that placing walls between countries and separating entire religions is against American values.

Attaching banners to National Monuments is illegal

Officials with the National Parks Service stressed that attaching a banner to a national monument is strictly prohibited and they said in a statement that an investigation had been launched into the incident to track down the culprits.

According to authorities, they removed the “Refugees Welcome” banner once they had established they could do this without damaging the Statue of Liberty.

AltLadyLiberty and the “Refugees Welcome” banner

NY Mag mentioned that the activists involved had told them they have no formal group, as such, and are private citizens wishing to stick to the principles that actually make America great.

They used the name “Alt Lady Liberty” on Twitter and Instagram to document their action. One of the activists reportedly told Daily Intelligencer anonymously that most of them had never done anything like this before, but felt the need to take action.

While the banner was still in place, many Twitter and Instagram users made sure to document the protest using the #AltLadyLiberty and #RefugeesWelcome hashtags.
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