Live updates: President Trump announces he has ordered National Guard to begin withdrawing from Washington; more demonstrations underway
Here are some significant developments:
• Organizers with Black Lives Matter in the District painted “Defund the Police” on 16th Street NW near the section in front of the White House that D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) renamed “Black Lives Matter Plaza” a day earlier.
•The ninth day of massive protests in the District saw numerous demonstrations across the city — including along the U Street corridor, the Lincoln Memorial, Freedom Plaza and Capitol Hill — over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, and the Trump administration’s militant approach to the unrest that has gripped cities across the country.
• President Trump tweeted Sunday that he will order National Guard troops to start the process of withdrawing from Washington
“My Country, 'Tis of Thee” gets round of cheers outside White House
At about 11 a.m., Michael A. Jackson pressed his face against the metal fence surrounding Lafayette Square and, facing the White House, belted out one of the oldest protest songs around: “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”
“From every mountainside, let freedom ring!” he sang as bystanders cheered and clapped.
The 1824 song, also known as “America,” was an affirmation of the nation’s independence, laid over the melody of Britain’s “God Save the Queen.”
Jackson, vice president of the Georgia Avenue Business Improvement District and Development Corporation, said he came downtown to send a public message that George Floyd’s killing was unacceptable in a nation that stands for freedom and democracy.
Jackson gestured toward the fence and mimicked President Reagan’s words in a famous 1987 speech about tearing down the Berlin Wall.
“Mr. Trump,” Jackson said, “take this fence down and heal this nation.”
Another man paused while passing by with his bike.
“Sir, you’re completely right,” he told Jackson. “This fence is a metaphor for his entire presidency.”
Protesters in Richmond pull down Confederate monument, officials say
What had been a peaceful day of demonstrations in Richmond on Saturday ended with the toppling of a monument to Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham at Virginia Commonwealth University, police officials said Sunday.
About 11 p.m. Saturday, demonstrators used ropes to yank the Wickham statue from its pedestal.
Richmond police spokesman Gene Lepley said the toppled monument was later removed for public safety reasons.
Police have warned demonstrators that toppling heavy metal statues could injure those in the crowd. But Lepley said there were no injuries or arrests related to toppling of the monument or the larger protest on Saturday.
The monument stood in Monroe Park, in the center of the Virginia Commonwealth University campus.
That is more than a mile from the towering statues of Robert E. Lee and other Confederate figures memorialized on Monument Avenue.
Gov. Ralph Northam (D) vowed last week to remove the Lee tribute, the only Monument Avenue statue owned by the state.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney (D) and members of the City Council announced that they would support an ordinance to remove the other four Confederate tributes on the avenue.
Wickham’s statue was erected in 1891. A cousin of Lee’s who grew up on a Hanover farm, Wickham practiced law and was a member of the House of Delegates and the state Senate. He voted against secession in 1861, according the Hanover County Historical Society.
“Once President Lincoln demanded that Virginia help to overcome her sister states or be subjugated herself, however, Williams felt that his duty was to fully support the Confederacy,” the historical society states. He raised a local cavalry company, the Hanover Dragoons, at his farm, Hickory Hill, where Lee’s wife and daughters spent much of the war, according to the historical society.
After the war, he became president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Co.
Attorney General Barr defends aggressive tactics used against demonstrators outside Lafayette Square
Attorney General William P. Barr on Sunday again defended the aggressive clearing by police of a crowd of largely peaceful demonstrators from outside Lafayette Square last week and lashed out at the media for reports on the event.
In a testy interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” Barr said the methods police used to push back the protesters — which included charging at them with mounted police and firing gas into the crowd — were appropriate when police “met resistance.”
He gave an account of the incident that belied what reporters and demonstrators experienced — claiming, for example, that no tear gas was used, even though people on scene were hit with a gas that stung their eyes and induced coughing.
Barr claimed that pepper spray is “not a chemical irritant.”
“It’s not chemical,” the attorney general said.
The police operation, which has been widely condemned, came just before Trump addressed the nation and then walked across the cleared area so he could pose for a photo in front of St. John’s Church while holding a Bible.
Barr said that in the days before, demonstrators had attacked police, burned down a structure in the square and set a fire in the church.
He said he told police agencies on Monday afternoon that the perimeter outside the square, which is in front of the White House, would have to be pushed back one block.
At that point, Barr said, he did not know of Trump’s plans for a speech that day.
Barr said police asked the crowd to move three times; reporters on the scene and demonstrators said they could not make out any audible warnings.
Barr cast the crowd as unruly, saying he saw projectiles thrown.
“They were not peaceful protesters,” Barr said. “And that’s one of the big lies that the media seems to be perpetuating at this point.”
Asked whether he would have done anything different in hindsight, Barr said, “I haven’t studied the events retrospectively in detail, but I think in general, you had the qualified law enforcement officials with shields warning and moving a line slowly. They had mounted officers moving slowly, directing people to move. And most people complied.”
U.S. Rep. John Lewis tours D.C.’s newly named ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza’
Bowser and U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) toured D.C.'s newly named “Black Lives Matter Plaza” on Sunday morning, surveying both the street mural containing that same message and the adjacent unsanctioned mural reading “Defund the Police” that protesters spray painted Saturday in big yellow block letters.
The three stars in the D.C. flag that were part of the city’s mural had been blacked out by protesters so that the message on the portion of 16th Street leading to the White House ended up reading “Black Lives Matter = Defund the Police.”
Bowser was careful not to inflame the passions surrounding the call to steer government resources away from law enforcement and toward other services in communities of color, a growing theme in demonstrations nationwide.
Instead, as more people gathered near the White House, she worked to set the stage for another trouble-free day.
“We’ve walked this path before, and will continue marching on, hand in hand, elevating our voices, until justice and peace prevail,” Bowser (D) tweeted. “Thank you for joining me at Black Lives Matter Plaza, in front of the White House, @repjohnlewis.”
We’ve walked this path before, and will continue marching on, hand in hand, elevating our voices, until justice and peace prevail.
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) June 7, 2020
Thank you for joining me at Black Lives Matter Plaza, in front of the White House, @repjohnlewis. pic.twitter.com/4l3y4lY4hV
As more people began to arrive at the 16th Street plaza, city workers tidied up the area, leaving alone the “Defund the Police” mural while restoring the D.C. flag’s three stars.
“This is my city’s flag, and I want my city’s flag back,” Chris Geldart, the city’s director of public works, said. The crowd cheered as the city’s mural was cleaned.
Paper cranes and a call to ‘end white silence’ start off a peaceful morning of demonstrations
Several hundred people were near the White House by 10:30 a.m., some of them taking photos in front of a banner reading “Black Lives Matter” that hung from a metal fence surrounding Lafayette Square.
Just west of that sign, members of the Tsuru for Solidarity Japanese American social justice project handed out paper cranes meant to symbolize peace.
“Where is the law and order,” David Inoue, executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, said into a microphone, “when we see black men killed by those sworn to protect the law and to protect and serve us?”
The group of Japanese Americans arrived with about 1,000 paper cranes, each one meant to help grant the wishes of those seeking an end to violence against black people and other marginalized groups.
Down the road, about a dozen white Quakers sat silently in a circle on the pavement in front of a sign that called to “End white silence.”
Gary Harvey and Laurie Corkey, residents of Reston, Va., rested nearby with a sign reading the same thing. This was their first day protesting at the White House.
“I think the black community has carried it largely alone for too long,” said Corkey, 64.
Trump orders National Guard to begin leaving D.C., citing easing tensions on 10th day of protests
President Trump said Sunday morning that he is ordering National Guard troops to begin withdrawing from the nation’s capital, a sign that the tensions that have consumed the city for nine days are starting to ease.
“I have just given an order for our National Guard to start the process of withdrawing from Washington, D.C., now that everything is under perfect control,” Trump tweeted the morning after more than 10,000 people marched through the District in what was mostly a festive day of demonstrations.
“They will be going home, but can quickly return, if needed,” he warned. “Far fewer protesters showed up last night than anticipated!”
As he tweeted those words, more demonstrators were headed toward the White House for a 10th day of protests. On Saturday afternoon, organizers with Black Lives Matter spray-painted the words “Defund the Police” in large yellow block letters near the “Black Lives Matter” mural the city had installed Friday at the newly named Black Lives Matter Plaza on 16th Street.
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