- Protesters demonstrating against the death of
George Floyd clashed with police and Secret Service agents outside theWhite House on Saturday night. - It was the second night of protests outside the executive residence.
- President Donald Trump had earlier threatened protesters who attempted to breach the White House's perimeter with "vicious dogs" and "ominous weapons."
- In cities across the US, the video of a police officer kneeling of Floyd's neck before he died has sparked protests and riots.
Protesters clashed with the Secret Service outside the White House on Saturday, on the second consecutive night of demonstrations against the death of George Floyd held outside the presidential residence.
Hundreds of protesters gathered on the National Mall and marched towards the White House chanting slogans decrying police brutality, including "I can't breathe," reported the Associated Press.
These were the words uttered by Floyd as a police officer knelt on his neck while arresting him in footage that spread across the internet last week, and has sparked protests and unrest in cities across the US.
On Saturday night, protesters encountered a barricade near the White House and lines of Secret Service members, Washington DC police and Parks Police.
Footage of the protests from reporters at the scene show torched cars and dumpsters
When demonstrators breached the barricade and entered the park near the White House, they were driven back by police with pepper spray and riots shields, reported The Guardian.
WTOP digital editor Alejandro Alvarez described a confrontation between protesters and Secret Service members in Lafayette Square, that normally bustles with tourists ."After a long stalemate the Secret Service, in full tactical gear, pushed forward and cleared the intersection, and there was a cloud of pepper spray and people ran backwards as fast as they could. It was almost a mad stampede," he said.
—Fin Gomez (@finnygo) May 31, 2020
—Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) May 31, 2020
—Fin Gomez (@finnygo) May 31, 2020
The National Guard was deployed in Washington DC at the Pentagon's request to help maintain order near the White House.
Trump had been accused of stirring the unrest in tweets earlier on Saturday. He said Secret Service officers were "just waiting for action," saying he was told: "We put the young ones on the front line, sir, they love it, and...good practice."
He added that "vicious dogs" and "ominous weapons awaited protesters who attempted to breach the White House perimeter.
"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.
DC Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said Trump's threat was an allusion to the worst police violence of the civil rights protests in the 1960s, when peaceful demonstrators were attacked by vicious dogs, unleashed by police.
"I'm just shaken that an American president would utter such words about fellow Americans," Bowser said.
Trump offered no evidence for his claim that demonstrators were agitators.
The president called for pro-Trump protesters to stage their own demonstration at the White House, tweeting: "Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???"
There were no reports indicating that Trump supporters heeded his call to stage their own protest.
When challenged, by a reporter in Florida earlier, where he attended the launch of the SpaceX rocket, over whether his call for a counter-demonstration risked inflaming the situation, Trump replied: "I was just asking. But I have no idea if they are going to be here."
"MAGA is Make America Great Again. By the way, they love African American people. They love black people."
Read the original article on Insider