TOPLINE
Days the Trump administration was sued for using a type of tear gas on peaceful protesters near the White House, thousands of protesters gathered in Washington D.C. on Saturday in what city officials estimate is the largest Black Lives Matter demonstration since George Floyd died earlier this month.
Protestors stretch for more than five blocks, from Scott Circle NW to H Street NW, during ... [+]
KEY FACTS
The demonstration has remained peaceful and comes after the city lifted its curfew on Thursday.
D.C. Mayor D.C. Mayor Muriel addressed the crowd and decried Trump for using National Guard troops in the city: “Our soldiers should not be treated this way. They should not be asked to move on American citizens,” she said.
Much of the protest took place where “Black Lives Matter” was painted in large yellow letters on the street, which was ceremonially renamed “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”
Key background
Protests in D.C. have been particularly fraught since U.S. Park Police deployed smoke canisters and pepper irritants on a group of largely peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square, resulting in a lawsuit from the ACLU. Bowser has since demanded President Donald Trump remove national guard units from the city, prompting the president to call her “incompetent.” The Pentagon on Thursday told National Guard members not to use firearms or ammunition, and sent home active-duty troops that were on standby outside the city.
news peg
As protests rage across the country for the, Trump’s response to the unrest has drawn widespread, and unprecedented, condemnation from former high-ranking military officials, including former Defense Secretary James Mattis, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. Trump has repeatedly called on strong military action, focusing on looting and property damage, and threatened to invoke a centuries-old law that allows the president to send in active-duty troops to quell unrest.
