Large Crowds Pack Washington DC For Black Lives Matter Protest

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.

KEY FACTS

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.