Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Washington D.C. on Saturday, demanding that U.S. President Donald Trump end the deployment of National Guard troops patrolling the capital.
The march, held under the slogan “We Are All in Washington D.C.”, drew participants ranging from undocumented immigrants to supporters of Palestinian statehood. Protesters chanted anti-Trump slogans and carried posters with messages such as: “Trump must go now,” “Free Washington D.C.,” and “Resist Tyranny.”
“I’m here to protest the occupation of Washington D.C.,” said Alex Laufer. “We are resisting an authoritarian regime and demanding the removal of federal police and the National Guard from our streets.”
Trump justified the troop deployment by claiming that crime was destroying the city and that intervention was necessary to “restore law, order, and public safety.”
In a controversial move, the president also placed the Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control and deployed federal law enforcement agents, including ICE officers, to patrol the streets — actions critics denounced as a federal overreach.
On social media, Trump escalated tensions by posting an image from the 1979 Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now, threatening mass deportations in Chicago, in what many saw as a warning of harsher measures against other Democrat-led cities.
