D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser took to the press Saturday to respond to President Donald Trump’s tweets about protests Friday night in front of the White House.
Mr. Trump tweeted early Saturday morning falsely claiming that Miss Bowser would not let the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) involved in facilitating the protest and threatened to greet protesters with “vicious dogs.”
“I thought the president’s remarks were gross,” Miss Bowser said at a press conference at the John A. Wilson Building. “As I did when he said ’if there’s looting, there will be shooting.’”
Over a thousand of protesters marched down 14th Street NW Friday night, joining demonstrations across the country, in response to the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
About 150 “protesters and agitators” remained in Lafayette Square from about 11 p.m. until 3:45 a.m., said Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham. Lafayette Square, which is directly north of the White House, is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Park Police.
Miss Bowser said MPD had supported the Secret Service and U.S. Park Police in responding to the protests and coordinated with them throughout the night.
“To make a reference to ’vicious dogs’ is no subtle reminder to African Americans of segregationist who let dogs out on women and children in the south,” Miss Bowser said. “Those of us who weren’t alive then, we know it well from our history and many people who were alive then are just shaken that an American president would utter such words about his fellow Americans.”
Mr. Newsham said unified command was established between the three different police forces and that MPD provided Secret Service with masks and other equipment they didn’t have readily available.
The police chief said MPD made no arrests and had zero reports of injury or use of force.
• Sophie Kaplan can be reached at skaplan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.