DC Police Raze Protesters’ Tents, Push Demonstrators Out of Area Near White House

President Trump has long maintained that he will be the “law and order” President, and actions taken by authorities around the White House on Tuesday seems to indicate that this is still his prerogative.

On Monday, protests in the nation’s capital again turned tense, as demonstrators representing the loosely organized Black Lives Matter movement attempted to topple a statue of former President Andrew Jackson on account of his treatment of Native Americans.  Then, not far away from the White House, another sect of protesters worked to establish the “BHAZ”, or “Black House Autonomous Zone” – something meant to be akin to Seattle’s now-defunct CHAZ-turned-CHOP.

President Trump used Twitter to declare that he would not allow such a thing to happen, and, on Tuesday, he made that point even more clearly.

Lines of law enforcement abruptly cleared streets at the Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, removing several tents near the White House in which protesters were encamped and leading to a tense confrontation between police and demonstrators.

As riot-gear clad police officers pushed the crowd back from Lafayette Square, they ordered people to remove tents that were occupied by some of the demonstrators nearby. The park, located across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, has been the site of largely peaceful protests that have been ongoing following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police last month.

Street-cleaning crews and trucks swept away and cleared out tents from the plaza on 16th Street NW, a block away from Lafayette Square, where protesters attempted to pull down a statue of former President Andrew Jackson Monday night. Police then responded with pepper spray and batons, and some protesters threw objects at the police officers, The Washington Post reported.

Trump had earlier stated that those who would seek to vandalize historical monuments would do so at their own peril, and could face up to 10 years in jail under federal law.