D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called on President Trump to remove federal law enforcement and military from Washington, D.C., saying the personnel are a safety risk to protesters who have been mostly peaceful.
“I continue to be concerned that unidentified federal personnel patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C., pose both safety and national security risks,” she wrote in a letter to Trump on Thursday.
“The deployment of federal law enforcement personnel and equipment are inflaming demonstrators and adding to the grievances of those who, by and large, are peacefully protesting for change and for reforms to the racist and broken systems that are killing Black Americans,” she said.
Federal law enforcement and military personnel are not operating within the same channels of communication with the Metropolitan Police Department, according to Bowser, which she said, “can breed danger confusion.”
She also noted federal personnel have not been wearing any identifying insignia.
In Washington and across the country, protesters have gathered to demand justice for George Floyd, who was killed last week after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The protests, which in some cases became violent, led to an increase in law enforcement in the city.
I request that @realDonaldTrump withdraw all extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence from our city. pic.twitter.com/AvaJfQ0mxP
— Mayor Muriel Bowser #StayHomeDC (@MayorBowser) June 5, 2020
