WASHINGTON (AP) – Thousands of protesters marched through Washington, DC on Saturday at one of the biggest demonstrations against the president Donald Trump’s Federal acquisition of police in the country’s capital.
Behind the bright red banner that read in English and Spanish, “End the DC profession,” protesters marched over two miles from Meridian Hill Park to Freedom Plaza near the White House, opposed the fourth week of patroling the streets of DC.
“We’re all DC” protests — put together by local supporters of the Home Rules and the American Civil Liberties Union — was perhaps the most organized demonstration of Trump’s federal intervention in Washington. The president justified action last month as a way to deal with it. Crime and homelessness In the city, city officials point this out. Violent crime is low More than during Trump’s first term.
Trump targeted DC after deploying the National Guard Los Angeles This summer, the administration has sought to strengthen its immigration enforcement efforts and suppress the protests. The White House then turned to Washington, offering a unique opportunity for Trump to push his harsh crime agenda. Dependent Status to the federal government.
The presence of armed military officers on the streets gave Washington the upper hand, spurring weeks of demonstrations, especially in the DC neighborhood. Trump’s emergency declaration for DC police It is set to expire on wednesday.
Mark Fitzpatrick, a former US diplomat who was a DC resident for nearly 10 years, told The Associated Press on Saturday that he was concerned about the “authoritarian nature” that the administration handles DC.
“Federal agents, national security guards patrolling our streets, that’s really a humiliation against our city’s democracy,” he said. “We don’t have any senators or members of the House of Representatives, so we want to be a dictator, a dictator like this.”
Some protesters on Saturday were former DC residents, such as Tammy Price, who called the Trump administration’s takeover “evil” and “not for the people.”
Jun Lee, a printmaker artist living in Washington, appeared with a “free DC” sign made from woodblock blocks. She said she came to protest because she was “sad and heartbroken” about the impact of federal intervention on her city.
“This is my home and I’ve never thought of everything I saw in a history documentary where I actually live in person. This is important to everyone, this is our home, we need to fight and we need to resist,” she said.
Also, Saturday, Trump Repeated threats to add Chicago On a list of other democratically driven cities, he wants to target them to expand federal enforcement. His administration plans to step up immigration enforcement in Chicago, similar to what happened in Los Angeles. Deploying National Guard Forces. Like the District of Columbia, Chicago’s recent crime data doesn’t reflect the war zones Trump has repeatedly compared it.
Violent crime in Chicago fell sharply in the first half of the year, and the sharpest decline for more than a decade, according to city data. Shootings fell by 37% and murders fell by 32%, while overall violent crime fell by more than 22%.
In response to Trump’s threat, Illinois Democrats called the president a “aspiring dictator” who “threatens to go to war with American cities.”
“This is no joke,” Pretzker wrote to X: “This is not normal.”
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Amiri was reported from New York.
