Washington D.C.’s mayor said Tuesday she was “shocked” and “outraged” that peaceful protesters outside the White House on Monday were teargassed and shot at with rubber bullets by law enforcement.
“We were very shocked and quite frankly outraged that people who were not violating the curfew, and who did not seem to have provoked attack, were attacked in a move out by the federal law enforcement officials who were directed to clear the way for the President,” Mayor Muriel Bowser told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day.”
After a weekend of unrest in the nation’s capital over the death of George Floyd, Bowser had issued a citywide curfew starting 7 p.m. ET Monday. Roughly a half hour before the curfew went into effect, law enforcement began pushing back the crowd of protesters gathered outside the White House with tear gas, flash grenades and rubber bullets.
President Donald Trump on Monday night delivered remarks in the White House Rose Garden and then — after the protesters were dispersed — walked over to the St. John’s Episcopal Church, which had been partially burned in a Sunday evening protest, to pose for a photo-op with a Bible.
“We wanted to make sure that our Metropolitan Police Department could ensure that people could exercise their First Amendment rights, but also protect our city from damage and destruction that we had seen the night before,” Bowser told CNN Tuesday. “But at no time do we think it was appropriate that people who had not violated the curfew or anything else receive that treatment.”
The Democratic mayor has clashed with Trump over the city’s handling of the Floyd protests.