With scores of police in pursuit, on foot and in SUVs and on motorcycles, a group of roughly 100 protesters sprinted around rubber bullets near the Mt. Vernon Square area of Washington, D.C.—nearly four hours after the city’s 7 p.m. curfew had been put into effect. The sirens behind them meant almost certain arrest, so the protesters splintered, with some running northwest down Massachusetts Ave., others going north up 9th St., and a third group gunning for L St. to hide in the road’s residential areas. This escape scene was emblematic of law enforcement’s curfew enforcement strategy on Monday night—a constant cycle of police breaking up groups and attempting to make arrests, while protesters who escaped regrouped a few blocks away, only to have police catch up to them again.
The capital’s fourth consecutive night of protests kicked off with hundreds of peaceful demonstrators gathering just north of Lafayette Square, a park facing the White House, to demonstrate against police brutality—namely, the recent killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police. Just after 6:30 p.m., in the midst of Donald Trump’s Rose Garden speech—in which he urged governors to “dominate” protesters and threatened to send in the military if they don’t—those assembled were pelted with tear gas and flash bangs, seemingly without warning. (The White House has said, “Protesters were given three warnings,” a claim that those on the scene deny). As has now been reported by multiple outlets, Trump, who spent the weekend sheltering in the White House as parts of D.C. burned around him, was intent on a photo op in front of St. John’s, a historic church next to Lafayette Square that was damaged during Sunday night’s protest. So police cleared a path for the president, slamming bodies aside a full half hour before curfew.
That initial scuffle set the tone for the rest of the night, which stood out for its brutality and shows of force. (It was more ominous even than Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, where I covered the white nationalist Unite the Right rally.) The area’s law enforcement coalition, made up of the Secret Service; D.C. Metropolitan Police Department; U.S. Park Police; Capitol Police; National Guard; Customs and Border Protection; FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and, for some reason, the Drug Enforcement Agency, pursued protesters more aggressively and with more determination than any night previous. At around 10 p.m. in Chinatown, as protesters marched near numerous closed-off streets complete with military check points, an Army UH-72 Lakota helicopter descended to rooftop level right above protesters. The proximity of the chopper’s blades sent tree branches, personal belongings, trash, and dust flying around the group, who stood their ground while staring up at it.
While less property damage occurred on Monday compared to over the weekend, more than 300 people were arrested—a majority due to curfew violations—a number three times the total arrests made during protests between Saturday and early Monday. However, as the night dragged on, the curfew appeared to be only enforced selectively. Dozens of very small groups, usually made up of a handful protesters, freely wandered the streets near downtown D.C. hours after 7 p.m., strolling past shattered storefronts and law enforcement alike. But in a number of instances, when larger groups formed, officers stepped in to chase down protesters and handcuff them. The sheer number of protesters and their determination to remain on the streets may have factored into why police applied the rule unevenly. One protester, who asked to remain anonymous, said that despite the police pressure, he and his friends were intent on staying out because “They killed Floyd, killed so many others. They’ve been killing us forever—hundreds of years. They wanted a war, they got one.”