Shouting “Black Lives Matter” and “I can’t breathe,” several hundred people converged on the White House for a second straight day Saturday to protest the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and President Donald Trump’s response. Trump, who earlier belittled the protesters, pledged to “stop mob violence.” “I stand before you as a friend and ally to every American seeking justice and peace, and I stand before you in firm opposition to anyone exploiting this tragedy to loot, rob, attack and menace,” the president said in Florida after watching the launch of a SpaceX rocket. “Healing, not hatred, justice, not chaos are the missions at hand.” At Lafayette Park, across from the White House, three lines of barricades separated protesters from a loose line of uniformed police officers. At one point, the protesters left the park, chanting as they marched up a nearby street. A block from the White House, they held a moment of silence and brief sit-in. In a series of tweets earlier Saturday, Trump doubted their allegiance to Floyd’s memory, saying they were “professionally managed.” He offered no evidence to back his assertion, and the president even seemed to invite supporters to make their presence felt: “Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???” Trump later rejected the suggestion that he was stoking a potential conflict between protesters and his supporters. “I was just asking. But I have no idea if they are going to be here,” he said. “MAGA is Make America Great Again. By the way, they love African American people. They love black people.” At Saturday’s demonstration, there was no evidence of a counter-move by Trump supporters. Trump said he had “watched every move” from inside the executive mansion during Friday’s protest and “couldn’t have felt more safe” as the Secret Service let the protesters carry on, “but whenever someone … got too frisky or out of line, they would quickly come down on then, hard — didn’t know what hit them.” The president also criticized the mayors of Washington and Minneapolis. Trump said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey “is probably a very good person, but he’s a radical, left mayor.” He then described how he watched as a police station in the city was overrun. “For that police station to be abandoned and taken over, I’ve never seen anything so horrible and stupid in my life,” Trump said when speaking briefly to reporters at the White House. He said Minnesota officials have to get tougher with rioters, and that by doing so they would be honoring the memory of Floyd. The Secret Service said in a statement Saturday that six protesters were arrested in Washington and “multiple” officers were injured. There were no details on the charges or nature of the injuries. A spokesman for U.S. Park Police said their officers made no arrests, but several suffered minor injuries and one was taken to a hospital after being struck in the helmet by a projectile. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf on Saturday called the protesters “criminals” who committed “acts of violence while hiding behind their First Amendment right of lawful protest.” Wolf said the Secret Service was “evolving and adapting to the changing nature of the threats they face.” Floyd is the black man who was being held in handcuffs when […]
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