In an unusual response to the increasing tensions between protesters and the police in Washington, members of the White House press were asked by the United States Secret Service to vacate the White House grounds, Monday.
The said move was taken by the secret service after the police had an altercation with protesters just across the street from the White House.
Protests in US have gone out of control
According to reports, it has reached a point when protesters were already trying to topple the statue of former US President Andrew Jackson which lies at the center of the park before the police intervened. In the past month, Lafayette Square has served as a site for many of the protests that have erupted across the country in light of George Floyd's death.
In a report by Washington Post, it was stated that during the confrontation between the US Park Police and the protesters, the police have opted to use pepper spray in order to push back protesters who were trying to bring down the statue. In response, the news outlet stated that protesters started to throw objects to the police.
Aside from trying to take down the statue, some protesters also vandalized pillars of St. John's Episcopal Church which is only across the street from the park by spray painting the word "BHAZ."
"BHAZ" means "Black House Autonomous Zone," which is a reference to Seattle's CHAZ or Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone which protesters have taken over and have declared as a cop-free zone. CHAZ protests have been very peaceful up until incidents in the weekend when several shootings happened and have even taken the life of a 19-year-old.
In view of the events that have happened, journalists were asked by the secret service to immediately leave the White House complex and exit through the south side of the grounds. The said exit is not usually used by the press. The move was also curious since, in security situations, the usual move is to lock down the press inside the complex and not ask them to move out.
In an interview with CNN, a spokesperson for the secret service stated that members of the press were told to exit the White House grounds through the complex's south side in order to ensure their own safety amid the increasing violence in the demonstrations that were happening just across the street.
Trump threatens to use serious force against protesters
In response to the increasing violence amid the protest, Up President Donald Trump has issued a warning against protesters that vandalizing federal monuments can earn them up to 10 years in federal prison.
He also threatened that in any case that protesters try to create an "autonomous zone" in DC, he would be prompted to use "serious force" in order to control the situation.
The tension between authorities and protesters in DC has been one of the centers of the Black Lives Matter protests that has been going on all over the country in the aftermath of Floyd's death in the hands of police officers.
