But of course, blame it on the women.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/barr-personally-ordered-removal-of-protesters-near-white-house-leading-to-use-of-force-against-largely-peaceful-crowd/2020/06/02/0ca2417c-a4d5-11ea-b473-04905b1af82b_story.html
Barr personally ordered removal of protesters near White House, leading to use of force against largely peaceful crowd.
Attorney General William P. Barr personally ordered law enforcement officials to clear the streets around Lafayette Square just before President Trump spoke Monday, a Justice Department official said, a directive that prompted a show of aggression against a crowd of largely peaceful protesters, drawing widespread condemnation.
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On Monday evening, officers from the Park Police and other agencies used smoke canisters, pepper balls, riot shields, batons and officers on horseback to shove and chase people gathered to protest the death of Floyd. At one point, a line of police rushed a group of protesters standing on H Street NW, many of whom were standing still with their hands up, forcing them to race away, coughing from smoke. Some were struck by rubber bullets.
Secret Service officers then surrounded the area and created a protective zone for Trump, who moments later crossed the street and made an appearance outside St. John’s Church, joined by Barr and other administration officials.
On Tuesday, the administration offered conflicting explanations for the forcible removal of the protesters, seeking to separate the move from Trump’s visit to the church."
[snip]
“He conferred with them to check on the status and basically said: ‘This needs to be done. Get it done,’?” the Justice Department official said.
Police soon moved on the protesters.
D.C. city officials said they were not involved in the decision to use force, which Bowser called “shameful.”
“I didn’t see any provocation that would warrant the deployment of munitions, and especially for the purpose of moving the president across the street,” the mayor said at a Tuesday news conference.
D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D) said in a statement that the District was “now reckoning with an unhinged president responding to nonviolent demonstration with war-like tactics.”
And officials with Virginia’s Arlington County, which had dispatched officers from a civil disturbance unit in response to a mutual-aid request from the Park Police, said their police officers found themselves unexpectedly confronting protesters."
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