The decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops in the capital has sparked widespread protests. Demonstrators held signs reading “National Shame” and chanted “Trump must go now.”
The move follows Trump’s recent statement that homeless people should be removed from Washington, D.C., to make the city “cleaner and safer.”
“Having grown up in Washington, it’s hard to watch the city be taken over by Donald Trump and for everyone to live in fear. I don’t support it. I think it’s a bad move, and there will be strong backlash against him and his administration,” said protester Eugene Achstetter.
The Republican president announced that 800 National Guard troops had been deployed in the city, a measure critics have labeled illegal.
“We are already a city under heavy police control. We deserve representation. Representatives from all other states come to Congress here, and we pay taxes like everyone else,” said protester Kango Kiama.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, rejected Trump’s claims of uncontrolled violence, noting that crime levels reached their lowest point in more than three decades last year. However, city police stated that crime, including homicides, rose sharply in 2023, making Washington one of the nation’s most dangerous cities.
