Tensions flared overnight in Washington DC after police arrested protesters and shoved them into vans during a late-night anti-police march.
Footage from the scene shows protestors trying to stop a police van from escorting detained individuals by blocking off a road in northwest DC.
Clarence Williams, a reporter on the scene, tweeted a clip with the caption: ‘A crowd shouted and tried to block a D.C. police van and officers moved a group of demonstrators from 18th Street NW. One woman was taken into custody during the clash.’
Police declined to answer why people were being arrested to journalists on the scene, the Washington Post reported, adding that early morning calls and emails to the department were not answered.
Tensions flared overnight after police arrested demonstrators and protestors tried to prevent the police vans from leaving the scene. (Pictured)
Tensions flared overnight after police arrested demonstrators and protestors tried to prevent the police vans from leaving the scene. (Pictured)
Tensions flared overnight after police arrested demonstrators and protestors tried to prevent the police vans from leaving the scene. (Pictured)
Earlier on Thursday evening, police are said to have boxed in a group of demonstrators on a sidewalk as they marched through northwest DC, the Washington Post reported.
Some individuals who were outside of the border set-up by the police allege that police used batons and pepper spray to corral them in.
Tysean Hoffman, of Alexandria, said that the protestors were mostly peaceful but there were some instances of fireworks being lit, trash cans being tipped over and one being set alight.
Hoffman said he took his seven-year-old son with him so his son could ‘see a police officer and not be scared,’ the Washington Post reported.
Marchers told the newspaper that there were around 20 protestors who were surrounded by the police.
One woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the paper she was almost arrested while using ice and water to soothe the pepper spray directed towards her.
One officer, she said, pushed her with a baton and a friend jumped in between her and the officer.
Tensions flared overnight after police arrested demonstrators and protestors tried to prevent the police vans from leaving the scene. (Pictured)
The friend was jumped on by several other police officers who detained him. She said that one officer used pepper spray on her while arresting him.
‘All of a sudden, the police got aggressive with us,’ the woman said.
Protests in DC have been relatively quiet in recent weeks, however, last month, a few dozen anti-police protesters chanted ‘Fascist out’ as they rallied outside the Virginia home of Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to demand the removal of federal agents from Portland, Oregon, and other cities.
Demonstrators chanted slogans like ‘Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?’ and demanded the defunding of police as they rallied in the suburban town of Alexandria, Virginia, on Sunday morning.
The demonstration comes as Wolf blasted Democrats on Sunday for ‘sanctioning rioting’ and violence against law enforcement.
This morning’s protests also come days after Myron Berryman, 51, was shot in the chest when he allegedly charged towards an officer outside the President’s residence claiming to have a gun.
The Secret Service say Berryman yelled ‘I’m going to kill you. I’m going to shoot you’ at agents before he was shot.
Despite the alleged threats, no weapon was retrieved from the scene, sources told The Washington Post. .
At the time, President Trump was inside the White House Briefing Room conducting a press conference which was being televised nationwide.
A Secret Service agent informed the Commander-in-chief of the shooting, and Trump left the room as a security precaution. He returned five minutes later.
In a statement released Monday night, the Secret Service stated: ‘The suspect … ran aggressively towards the officer, and in a drawing motion, withdrew an object from his clothing. He then crouched into a shooter’s stance as if about to fire a weapon.’