D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Thursday there would be no curfew into Friday morning, after police arrested no protesters Wednesday night.
Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham said some of the aspects of Wednesday night’s peaceful protest were different from the five previous nights.
Chief Newsham said Wednesday’s protest was larger, with more than 5,000 people. He also noted that it started earlier in the day, involved multiple groups, saw no arrests, and included no damage to police property or injuries to personnel.
“Moving forward over the next couple of days, we expect more of the same,” the police chief said Thursday at a press conference.
He said he expects Saturday’s protest to be the largest yet.
Miss Bowser said that she did not request any National Guard members from other states to help police D.C. streets and that she is looking into President Trump’s authority to direct troops from out of state into the District.
The Democratic mayor said she saw federal police forces expand their perimeter beyond H Street NW Wednesday and that was “too far.” She said she asked the police chief to work with “whomever” to push those forces back to Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House, which they did Thursday morning.
She said there are several federal law enforcement agents that she did not request under the direction of Attorney General William Barr in the District.
After repeated questions about who is directing law enforcement to expand the perimeter around the White House, Miss Bowser and Chief Newsham did not comment.
“I hope you take some of that frustration and channel that to your coverage of D.C. statehood,” Miss Bowser said.
• Sophie Kaplan can be reached at skaplan@washingtontimes.com.
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