Thousands marched in Washington, D.C., Saturday to protest President Donald Trump’s continued deployment of National Guard troops and the increased federal law enforcement on the streets of the nation’s capital.
The large demonstration, dubbed by organizers as the “We Are All DC” march, trailed down the district’s 16th Street NW toward the White House and came after several days of Trump’s heightened threats to send National Guard troops to Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans and other Democratic-led cities.
The district’s Democratic attorney general sued the Trump administration Thursday arguing the ongoing presence of National Guard troops amounts to illegal military occupation.
Guard members from the District of Columbia and seven states had already been deployed in Washington as of this week when Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Friday he would add 300 soldiers and 16 support staff, becoming the eighth state to send troops.
On Friday, Trump added Portland, Oregon, to the list of cities where he wants to deploy the Guard.
Demonstrators carried signs bearing the message “End the Occupation,” “Free DC” and “Get the ICE Out,” in reference to recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in the district.
Dozens of organizations participated in the march, including labor unions, faith-based organizations, immigration advocates, the League of Women Voters D.C. chapter and the D.C. Democratic Party.
Gail Hansen, 71, of Washington, D.C., said she wants to see a decreased ICE presence.
“I believe in freedom, and I think we’ve all gotta let everybody know that what’s happening on our streets is unacceptable,” Hansen told States Newsroom. “ICE needs to go home. The National Guard needs to go home. FBI needs to get out of our streets. We are doing just fine in D.C.”
Charlotte Stone, 18, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, held a cardboard sign above her head depicting a caricature of Trump with a Hitler mustache and a message that read “Ignoring it is what the Germans did.”
Trump’s 30-day emergency to federalize law enforcement in D.C. ends Sept. 10. On Tuesday, district Mayor Muriel Bowser announced an agreement with the administration to continue a collaboration between local police and federal law enforcement.
On Saturday morning, Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself with a burning Chicago skyline behind him and a message referring to the 1979 Vietnam War film “Apocalypse Now.”
He wrote on his platform Truth Social, “‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’ Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” in reference to his unofficial renaming of the Department of Defense on Friday.
This article was first published on News From the States and republished here under a Creative Commons License.
