Anti-Trump protestors allowed to keep flying flag after attempt to take it down

A federal judge has ruled that an anti-Trump organisation can keep flying its ‘86-47’ flag, after the administration tried to revoke its permit.

The protest group, Accountability Now USA, has been taking part in an ongoing, permitted 24/7 demonstration near the National Mall in Washington, D.C, on National Park Service land for months now.

However, US District Court Judge Randolph D. Moss ruled on Monday (1 June) that despite efforts to clamp down, they cannot have their permit to protest revoked.

Moss granted the Washington, DC, chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union's request for a restraining order in a free speech lawsuit against the National Park Service (NPS).

It comes after the organisation claimed that a US Park Police officer asked a protester to take down the flag due to concerns that it suggested a threat against Donald Trump.

So, what exactly does ‘86-47’ mean and why is it causing such a big fuss?

Accountability Now USA will keep its permit to fly an anti-Trump flag (KENT NISHIMURA/Getty Images)

Apparently, the number 87 is slang for throwing something out and getting rid of it, while Trump is the 47th President of the United States.

The numbers are also linked to the legal case against former FBI director James Comey.

Some Trump supporters have taken the numbers to be a threat against the Republican leader, but Judge Moss has now thrown this out.

He said: “Although the Court recognizes the importance and difficulty of the mission of the Secret Service, the First Amendment does not permit the government to censor political speech, which no reasonable observer would view, in context, as actually conveying a threat of violence, merely because the speaker uses a phrase that, in addition to other more common meanings, has been used to refer to an act of violence.”

The group themselves have also denied this, arguing instead that the flag is intended to attract bystanders to discuss their demand for Trump to be impeached.

'86' can be slang to throw something out or get rid of it and the number has been used in different protests (Caylo Seals/Getty Images)

The ruling will temporarily stop the NPS from being able to remove the flag, as Moss explained in his 21-page-long report.

The judge concluded: “The government seeks to squelch core political speech without any articulable - much less evidentiary - basis for concluding that the speech actually threatens the life or safety of the President.”

He added: "On the current record, Defendants have offered no basis to doubt that Plaintiff is engaged in fully protected First Amendment activity.”

Moss concluded that the group’s purpose for flying the flag was ‘to urge that Congress impeach and remove President Trump from office’ rather than incite violence.

He said: "The record contains no evidence that a reasonable observer would have viewed the flag as an incitement to imminent violence or that Plaintiff intended to incite political violence.”

A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior said, "This opinion is from an Obama-appointed judge. In what world have we lost all decency, to demand that any threat against the President be taken very seriously? While the Department shall and does comply with the Court's orders, this type of behavior should not be tolerated."

Tyla has contacted the White House.