A Washington, D.C., park at the center of this weekend’s Pride festivities will be closed to prevent the vandalism that occurred in years past.

Dupont Circle Park closed at 6 p.m. on Thursday and will remain closed through about 6 p.m. on Sunday, the National Park Service announced.

Early Friday morning, temporary fencing was erected around the park.

The decision comes as after days of back-and-forth between federal and local authorities over the issue, as well as backlash from WorldPride 2025 attendees, who hoped the park would remain open.

Washington, D.C., is hosting WorldPride 2025, which will have a plethora of events from Friday to Sunday. The events include at least four drag queen story hours including “Indigenous Drag Story Hour,” an event about “Deaf Queer Dating,” and a talk by a trans-identifying woman titled, “Propaganda & Transphobia: How Trans People Became the Political Pawn.”

Dupont Circle Park was closed at the request of the United States Park Police, which said it was necessary to “secure the park, deter potential violence, reduce the risk of destructive acts and decrease the need for extensive law enforcement presences.”

Washington, D.C., Police Chief Pamela Smith originally requested to close the park, but she later withdrew that request “after hearing from community leaders and residents.”

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However, she noted that in recent years, the park has been vandalized and has seen other violent illegal activity around the time of Pride festivities.

In 2019, gunshots were heard in the park causing people to flee, and a person was arrested. In 2023, the park was vandalized to the tune of $175,000 in damage to a historic fountain. Last year, “large groups of juveniles” in the park engaged in “illegal activities, including drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, and engaging in fights” and also “ran into a local business and stole items,” the police chief noted in her letter to the Park Police.

The Park Police pushed for a closure anyway, noting that “the threat of violence, criminal acts and [park] resource destruction” has “only increased” over the last few weeks.

For example, a local DJ was selling tickets to an “unpermitted gathering/party” in Dupont Circle after the World Pride events, the Park Police said.

“This social media advertisement is stating that this is the same DJ and ‘party’ as the previous several years, which have resulted in the unsafe conditions and damages recounted above,” the Park Police wrote in a June 4 letter to National Park Service leadership.