Woman who held 30-year vigil outside the White House dies

The Associated Press
January 26, 2016 at 10:13PM
FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2013 file photo, Concepcion Picciotto, who held a constant peace vigil in Lafayette Park across from the White House, sits on a park bench.
FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2013 file photo, Concepcion Picciotto, who held a constant peace vigil in Lafayette Park across from the White House, sits on a park bench. (Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

WASHINGTON — Concepcion Picciotto, the protester who maintained a three-decade peace vigil outside the White House that was widely considered to be the longest-running act of political protest in U.S. history, has died.

The Washington Post reports (http://wapo.st/23qW3F7) Picciotto died Monday at a housing facility for homeless women. Schroeder Stribling, executive director of N Street Village, says Picciotto had recently suffered a fall, but the cause of death was not yet known.

Picciotto, a Spanish immigrant, was the primary guardian of the anti-nuclear-proliferation vigil stationed along Pennsylvania Avenue. She was quoted in 2013 as saying she protested to "stop the world from being destroyed."

Fellow protester Ellen Thomas says she, husband William Thomas and Picciotto formed a group whose nuclear disarmament campaign was known as Proposition One.

The anti-nuclear-proliferation vigil stationed along Pennsylvania Avenue on the edge of Lafayette Square Park is maintained across from the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. Concepcion Picciotto, the protester who maintained a peace vigil for more than three decades died Monday, Jan. 25, 2016.
The anti-nuclear-proliferation vigil stationed along Pennsylvania Avenue on the edge of Lafayette Square Park is maintained across from the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. Concepcion Picciotto, the protester who maintained a peace vigil for more than three decades died Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. (Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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