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Yoga Mat Places White House on Lockdown

Secret Service agents patrol the security fence around the perimeter of the White House in Washington, D.C. / Getty Images
September 11, 2017

The White House was temporarily placed on lockdown Monday after someone threw a yoga mat and sign over the building's fence.

The Secret Service, Washington, D.C. Fire Department, and D.C. Metropolitan Police Department all responded to an "incident" at the north fence line of the White House, the Washington Examiner reports.

NBC's Peter Alexander tweeted that a Secret Service agent told him and other reporters that the lockdown was due to the tossed yoga mat and sign. Pennsylvania Avenue was also closed off during this time.

The Secret Service arrested two individuals in connection with the incident. There was no report as to what the thrown sign said, if anything.

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were slated to return to the White House at approximately the same time as the incident after attending a 9/11 memorial ceremony at the Pentagon. It is unknown if the lockdown or arrests impeded their trip.

Security at the White House has been a higher priority for the Secret Service after a string of incidents during the Obama administration, including when in 2014 a man with a knife made his way into the North Portico before being tackled by agents.