Police tear gas protesters gathered near White House after George Floyd's death Demonstrators in the nation's capital chanted "Hands up, don't shoot!" and "I can't breathe!"
Police tear gas protesters gathered near White House after George Floyd's death
Demonstrators in the nation's capital chanted "Hands up, don't shoot!" and "I can't breathe!"
By Lauren Egan, Allan Smith and Garrett Haake
WASHINGTON — Protesters on Saturday converged at the White House and sought to break through barriers at Lafayette Park as nationwide demonstrations over George Floyd's death reached President Donald Trump's doorstep for the second consecutive day.
At
the White House Saturday, police used pepper spray, tear gas and what
appeared to be rubber bullets on protesters, seeking to push them back.
Protesters tossed objects like bottles toward the police. Some pulled
bricks out of a sidewalk near the park and began throwing them toward
police.
Multiple
cars and dumpsters were set on fire mere blocks from the White House.
People smashed windows and spray painted buildings as the night went on.
Just
after 9 p.m. ET, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy directed the D.C.
National Guard to activate in response to U.S. Park Police asking for
assistance with the protest, Commanding General William Walker said in a statement.
Earlier,
protesters amid the large crowd could be seen standing on top of Secret
Service vehicles and a security booth next to the Eisenhower Executive
Office Building. Just before 6 p.m. ET, police warned protesters to
clear the street and pushed them to do as much.
After
7 p.m., protesters moved to the opposite side of Lafayette Park,
chanting and yelling at members of the Secret Service and Park Police.
Officers lined up within the park behind barricades and park chain
fencing. They zip-tied the barricades together and used pepper spray to
keep protesters back.
Some
in the crowd also ripped away the bike rack barriers that separate 17th
Street from the Pennsylvania Avenue Plaza. Other demonstrators were
seen standing face to face with a phalanx of Secret Service on the
plaza.
Protesters chanted "hands up, don't shoot" and "I can't breathe."
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., took part in the demonstration, as she posted to Twitter: "People are in pain."
"We must listen," she continued.
Air around the White House was thick with pepper spray into the evening.
The protest began to die down after midnight as law enforcement used tear gas to push demonstrators back a few blocks.
Days after protests first began, Derek Chauvin, the since-fired officer who detained Floyd, a black man, was arrested and charged Friday with
third-degree murder and manslaughter. Chauvin was seen on videotape
holding his knee against Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes as he
begged for mercy.
Three other officers were also involved in Floyd's detainment.
Following intense protests Friday night, Trump
warned that had those demonstrators breached the fence surrounding
White House, they would have been met "by "vicious dogs" and "ominous
weapons."
"Big crowd, professionally
organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had
they would....have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most
ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That's when people would have been
really badly hurt, at least," Trump tweeted Saturday morning, additionally praising the Secret Service after thousands gathered at the complex Friday.
One woman was taken into custody at that demonstration after climbing over a barrier.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/police-use-pepper-spray-protesters-gather-near-white-house-after-n1219751
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