T-Shirt Sellers Ousted at Mall by Park Service

WASHINGTON — National Park Service workers drove dump trucks onto the Mall and collected abandoned tables and wooden stands Monday as U.S. Park Police began enforcing a ban on T-shirt sales.

Under a court order from U.S. District Judge Harold Greene, the only items that may be sold on the Mall are books, newspapers, pamphlets, buttons or stickers pertaining to a political cause, said Sandra Alley, a Park Service spokeswoman.

“The Mall was taking on a flea-market atmosphere,” Alley said. “They can sell something to support a political cause. But we don’t feel that T-shirts are an appropriate way to express their First Amendment right to free speech.”

Although about 150 vendors were forced to clear their tables, not all T-shirt sales ceased on the park that stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol.

Eight organizations, including the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Hare Krishnas, are suing the Park Service over the right to set up vending stands on the Mall. U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin has allowed the plaintiffs to continue sales until he rules on the issue, Alley said.