Black Lives Matter Plaza, demolished in DC.

Construction workers started to dismantle the Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House on Monday.

This followed threats by Republicans to cut transportation funding if the plaza was not renamed.

“You can dig up concrete but you cannot erase history,” said DC resident Dianne Bradley.

Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser changed the name of the plaza in 2020 to Black Lives Matter Plaza, as a rebuke to President Trump.

Trump had deployed thousands of federal troops to the city to counter people protesting the murder of George Floyd by a police officer.

The renaming was criticised by the local chapter of the Black Lives Matter Global Network.

The group called it “a performative distraction from real policy changes”.

The dismantling of this plaza began March 3, 2025 and the decision came after Rep. Andrew Clyde introduced a bill.

The bill  was to withhold funding from the city unless the plaza was renamed Liberty Plaza and the painting was removed.

The Plaza was originally created in June 2020, during the George Floyd protests.

At the time, DC. Mayor Muriel Bowser renamed a two-block section of 16th Street NW near the White House.

The city also painted a giant “Black Lives Matter” mural on the street.

Mayor Bowser announced that the city would be removing the painting due to threats of congressional interference.

He stated that the city could not afford to be distracted by “meaningless congressional interference.”

The plaza will be part of D.C.’s America 250 mural project, where students and artists will create new paintings across the city.

Crews have begun work to remove the large yellow “Black Lives Matter” mural painted on the street one block from the White House.

The removal, expected to last around six weeks, follows D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s announcement.

The announcement was  about the change last week after pressure from Republicans in Congress.

The mural will be replaced by a series of city-sponsored murals, the specifics of which are yet to be revealed.

The original painting of the “Black Lives Matter” slogan in 2020 was a bold act of defiance against then-President Donald Trump.

Ordered by Mayor Bowser, a Democrat, the mural and the renaming of the intersection to Black Lives Matter Plaza followed days of protests.

The protests were over police brutality and the murder of George Floyd.

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