President Trump didn’t order of tear-gassing Peaceful Protesters in Washington

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On Monday, US President Donald Trump informed American people that he would protect peaceful protesters. He was speaking at the White House’s Rose Garden. Point to be noted that the law enforcement officers roughly 100 yards to the north unloaded tear gas, rubber bullets, and flashbangs to disperse peaceful protesters by Lafayette Square in Washington, DC, so the president could walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo op. The action of law enforcement to clear the president’s safe passage to the famed church took place on Monday at around the time of DC’s citywide 7 p.m. Kamala Harris from California tweeted and said, “Donald Trump just tear-gassed peaceful protesters for a photo op”.

The Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy tweeted, “The point was the tear gas. Not the photo op. If you haven’t figured that out, you haven’t been paying attention for 3 years”. It is noteworthy that thousands of Americans have taken to the streets of the largest cities in the US over the last several days. They are protesting against police brutality after an unarmed black man, George Floyd died on 25^th May in Minneapolis, while a white police officer knelt on his neck. The police officer Derek Chauvin has been charged at the state level with 3rd-degree murder. Thousands of people have flocked to the White House and nearby Lafayette Square to protest Floyd’s death and systemic racism in American law enforcement, since Friday.

Protesters and law enforcement tangled sporadically throughout the weekend. It prompted the city’s mayor Muriel Bowser to institute a citywide 7 p.m. curfew that will last at least through Tuesday. Trump also threatened to deploy heavily armed US military troops to cities even if mayors and governors object. It is important that the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act places strong guardrails against a US President using active-duty military troops to uphold civil laws on US soil. But, the US Congress can waive the law. On Monday, President Trump said, “I am mobilizing all available federal resources, civilian and military, to stop the rioting and looting, to end the destruction and arson, and to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans”.