WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators marched across Washington, D.C., on Saturday in one of the biggest protests against President Donald Trump’s federal control over policing in the nation’s capital.
Led by a bright red banner that read “END THE D.C. OCCUPATION” in both English and Spanish, participants marched over two miles from Meridian Hill Park to Freedom Plaza near the White House, protesting the fourth week of National Guard troops and federal agents patrolling D.C.’s streets.
The “We Are All D.C.” rally, organized by advocates of Home Rule and the American Civil Liberties Union, was possibly the most coordinated protest to date against Trump’s federal intervention in Washington. The president had justified the deployment last month as a measure to curb crime and homelessness in the city, although city officials pointed out that violent crime rates are actually lower than they were during Trump’s first term.
Trump’s focus shifted to D.C. after he sent the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier in the summer, amid efforts to tighten immigration enforcement and manage protests. Washington presented a unique opportunity for Trump due to its distinct status under federal governance, allowing him to advance his tough-on-crime stance.
The presence of armed military personnel on the streets has left Washington residents uneasy, leading to weeks of protests, especially in local neighborhoods. Trump’s emergency decision to take control of D.C. police is scheduled to conclude on Wednesday.
Mark Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. diplomat and a decade-long D.C. resident, expressed concern to The Associated Press on Saturday about the administration’s “authoritarian nature” in treating D.C.
“Federal agents, national guards patrolling our streets, that’s really an affront to the democracy of our city,” he said, adding that it’s worse for D.C. residents due to their lack of federal representation. “We don’t have our own senators or members of the House of Representatives, so we’re at the mercy of a dictator like this, a wanna-be dictator.”
Among the protesters Saturday were also former D.C. residents like Tammy Price, who called the Trump administration’s takeover “evil” and “not for the people.”
Jun Lee, a printmaker artist living in Washington, showed up with a “Free DC” sign that she made on a woodcut block. She said she came to the protest because she was “saddened and heartbroken” about the impact of the federal intervention on her city.
“This is my home, and I never, ever thought all the stuff that I watched in a history documentary that I’m actually living in person, and this is why this is important for everyone, this is our home, we need to fight, we need to resist,” she said.
Also on Saturday, Trump repeated threats to add Chicago to the list of other Democratic-led cities he wants to target for expanded federal enforcement. His administration is set to step up immigration enforcement in Chicago, similar to what took place in Los Angeles, and deploy National Guard troops. Like the District of Columbia, Chicago’s recent crime data does not reflect the war zones Trump has repeatedly compared it to.
Violent crime in Chicago dropped significantly in the first half of the year, representing the steepest decline in over a decade, according to city data. Shootings are down 37%, and homicides have dropped by 32%, while total violent crime dropped by over 22%.
In response to Trump’s threats, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, called the president a “wannabe dictator,” who is “threatening to go to war with an American city.”
“This is not a joke,” Pritzker wrote on X. “This is not normal.”
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Amiri reported from New York.
