The recent removal of a sprawling protest encampment situated for six months outside Secretary of State Tony Blinken’s home in Northern Virginia is facing a last-ditch legal challenge from some organizers of the anti-Israel demonstration, which was cleared by state authorities on Friday.

A group of leading protesters on Tuesday filed a motion in Arlington Circuit Court to schedule an “expedited hearing” on a request for an injunction to block the removal of the encampment, even as it had already been dismantled.

The organizers — Hazami Barmada, Michael A. Beer, Corey Walden, and Nadia McGeough — are alleging “ongoing violations of their constitutional rights” and claim that the encampment was cleared before an effort to seek injunctive relief was heard by a judge, according to the new motion shared with Jewish Insider by their attorney, Sam Burgan, on Wednesday.

“The state decided to abuse its power, acted in bad faith and moved with its raid while the matter was still pending a hearing, testimony and a finding” by a judge,” he wrote in an email to JI.

But it remains to be seen if the new legal effort will gain traction after state law enforcement stepped in amid mounting backlash to Arlington authorities for allowing the encampment, where protesters were calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, to remain in place for half a year, despite what was deemed an unlawful threat to public safety.

Behind the scenes, the Anti-Defamation League had lobbied aggressively for months to urge the removal of the protest encampment, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke with JI on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

“They were worse than useless,” the person said of Arlington law enforcement, which has been accused of enabling the protesters as the encampment grew. “Their lack of support emboldened the lunatics.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO, expressed appreciation in a social media post on Monday that Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, had “finally taken action against” what he called the “ongoing harassment” of “the highest ranking Jewish official in the executive branch,” adding that he had “been disturbed by the lack of local action.” 

The ADL told JI that it could “not say anything more beyond” Greenblatt’s statement, while Youngkin’s office declined to comment on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the Arlington County Police said in an email to JI that state and county police “have concurrent jurisdiction on the roadway” outside Blinken’s home, referring questions on the removal to the Virginia Department of Transportation, which maintains the route.

Following months of close observation, top transportation officials ultimately concluded that the encampment posed safety hazards and should be removed, according to two sworn affidavits filed in Arlington County court last week and reviewed by JI.

“Due to these unsafe conditions, the road has been returned to its original state,” said a spokesperson for the state transportation department, listing such items as concrete barriers, tents and flags that had created “unsafe” driving conditions “and blocked access to emergency vehicles and personnel.”

The Virginia State Police assisted in the removal of the encampment on Friday “with traffic control and advising the two trespassers, who were residing in the tents on the” roadway, “that they had to leave,” Corinne Geller, a spokesperson, said in email to JI. “Both individuals,” she added, “exited the tents on their own accord and left the right-of-way in their respective vehicles.”

“For the safety of passing motorists and local homeowners, state police is there to prevent anyone from again trespassing,” Geller confirmed. “We will assess our presence based on the need.”

Meanwhile, the demonstrators have continued to protest Blinken’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, driving the roadway outside his home in what one leading organizer called a “car caravan” in a recent social media post. “We are now mobile,” she wrote this week.

The organizers say their encampment, which they called “Kibbutz Blinken,” received no citations from Arlington County Police during their monthslong demonstration, the removal of which they described as “part of a wave of political repression directed at those who advocate for the realization of Palestinians’ basic rights.”

But in a court brief filed last week and obtained by JI, top state government officials involved in the removal of the protest encampment, including the GOP attorney general, Jason Miyares, rejected the organizer’s assertion that the dismantlement would “infringe their right to free speech and assembly,” arguing that such assertions are “baseless” and “should be dismissed.”

“This is a case about safety, not about free speech or free assembly,” the document stated, noting that the state constitution “does not permit” the protesters “to construct or inhabit a veritable village on the highway nor to pose myriad dangers to the public by, among other things, sitting or standing mere inches from travel lanes, and blocking the highway shoulders, and waiving objects or throwing liquid into the path of motorists.”

The encampment had also posed an “increased risk of traffic accidents,” the brief said, adding that its “presence” had “forced the Department of State to declare a federal protective zone” in the area of Blinken’s home.

The encampment became a “public nuisance,” expanding to include furniture, trash cans, gazebos, cooking stations and “open latrines,” according to the brief. “The encampment’s dwellers sleep, cook, and tend to ‘nature’s call’ all within and around the encampment,” it says.

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Ian Lichacz, a spokesperson for Miyares, said the attorney general had “provided legal support as needed to assist with restoring public safety on” the roadway, “including responding to a lawsuit seeking to maintain the encampment.”

He declined to share further details on the attorney general’s involvement, citing “pending litigation.”

Burgan, who represents the organizers challenging the removal, said he hopes to schedule a hearing to address their motion for emergency injunctive relief “as soon as possible,” adding that he is “waiting on the court to decide.”