Washington, D.C. has once against descended into protest along with countless other cities in the U.S. due to the unrest over George Floyd’s death. Friday saw protesters face down members of D.C. Police and Secret Service. Those on hand grabbed barricades and security fence set up by law enforcement, threw projectiles and forced a Fox News crew to flee the area.
Saturday featured much of the same from the protesters on hand. The difference is the looming threat of Donald Trump following his comments on Twitter from Saturday morning.
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Barricades have fallen to the west of the White House and the crowd is surging forward, once again coming face-to-face with Secret Service who’ve moved into formation and raised their riot shields—a few stained yellow from eggs just thrown. pic.twitter.com/B0AMIk8aMZ
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) May 30, 2020
“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,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least. Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action.”
He also called Saturday night, “MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE,” which many took as a call to his supporters to join the protest. The president was also adamant that the groups were organized and paid, blaming ANTIFA and leftists while using the language of conspiracy theorists. Trump also made clear he believes the protesters have no connection to George Floyd.
Saturday saw the barricades fall again as protesters showed they were willing to stand toe-to-toe with the Secret Service. Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th street ended up split between the protesters and law enforcement, but all stayed peaceful early on. Former presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris was also present at the gathering, protesting outside of The White House with a mask covering her face.
Penn. and 17th is split between protesters and Secret Service with what’s basically a buffer zone between them. The situation is stable at the moment but some protesters are daring to inch forward. Cries of “hands up, don’t shoot” are getting louder. pic.twitter.com/ToiwFKwoP3
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) May 30, 2020
Protesters also filled the air with chants, taking direct aim at Trump by using some colorful language to get their message across to the president. Still, there were hints that some unrest and violence was on the way.
Many cities across the country installed curfews Saturday after many protests got out of hand or turned violent. Also incidents of police violence have sprung up all over the country, with incidents out of San Jose and Louisville making headlines.
