WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2020) Demonstrators in Washington's Lafayette Square were peaceful and orderly, and were exercising their rights when force was used against them during protests on June 1, a senior National Guard officer said in a written testimony for a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
"From what I could observe, the demonstrators were behaving peacefully, exercising their First Amendment rights," District of Columbia National Guard Maj. Adam De Marco said in his prepared testimony for the House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources. "[A]t no time did I feel threatened by the protesters or assess them to be violent."
De Marco added that he thought disproportionate force was used unnecessarily against the demonstrators who were protesting the death of African-American George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.
"[T]he events I witnessed at Lafayette Square on the evening of June 1 were deeply disturbing to me, and to fellow National Guardsmen. ... It was my observation that the use of force against demonstrators in the clearing operation was an unnecessary escalation of the use of force," De Marco said.
On June 1, law enforcement officers aided by the District of Columbia National Guard cleared the area in front of the White House, including Lafayette Park, so President Donald Trump and a group of aids could walk to a nearby church that was set on fire by protesters the day before. Law enforcement was criticized for using force, including tear gas, to clear the protesters, but the White House spokesperson denied that tear gas was used.
