House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are calling on President Donald Trump to immediately reopen Lafayette Square in D.C., which was recently closed to the public following a wave of protests after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
The Democratic leaders sent a letter to the president on Monday, a week after protesters were forcefully cleared out from in front of the White House by law enforcement.
The lawmakers said federal officers forced “peaceful protesters from the square using tear gas and other violent means, in clear violation of the protester’s First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly.”
U.S. Park Police is disputing claims that tear gas was used on protesters.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., is also demanding answers from the U.S. Secret Service after it and other law enforcement agencies reportedly used weapons to disperse peaceful protesters across from the White House on the fourth day of protests.
The action took place before Trump and members of his administration walked across the park to St. John’s Episcopal Church, which had been damaged the night before, and the president held up a Bible.
“This deeply offensive action was taken in service of the regrettable political stunt you staged at St. John’s Church that evening,” Pelosi and Schumer said in the letter.
Later in the week, steel fencing was erected around Lafayette Square, prohibiting protesters and the public from entering the park, which had been the site of numerous protests over the years.
“Lafayette Square should be a symbol of freedom and openness, not a place behind which the leader of our executive branch cowers in fear of protesters who are crying out for justice,” the letter goes on to say.
Attorney General Bill Barr has defended the decision to clear out protesters, and Trump has sparred on Twitter with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser over his response to the protests and decision to call in military units.
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said in a statement that she was briefed by a member of the D.C. National Guard about the events of last Monday. The official said three warnings were given to the crowd to move, but that it was too large to hear what was said.
The D.C. National Guard member said it was explained to Barr that the crowd was peaceful, but federal forces still moved to clear the crowd.
“President Trump, tear down these walls,” Schumer said Monday on the Senate floor. “Allow the public to gather in front of the White House, for you and for all the world to hear their voices.”
