An Army National Guard officer who was called in to enforce a crackdown on protests in Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Square last month will tell lawmakers that the demonstrators were peaceful and “subjected to an unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force,” the New York Times reports. Maj. Adam DeMarco, an Iraq war veteran who serves in the D.C. National Guard, will testify on Tuesday before a House panel investigating the clash, in which Park Police and Secret Service officers violently cleared protesters away from the White House. He says the harsh actions were taken without provocation or adequate warning just before President Donald Trump walked through the area with senior administration officials to stage a photo event in front of a church.
“From my observation, those demonstrators — our fellow American citizens — were engaged in the peaceful expression of their First Amendment rights,” DeMarco will say, according to an advance text of his remarks. “Yet they were subjected to an unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force.” The June 1 clash near from the White House produced stunning images as mounted police and riot officers routed demonstrators with smoke, flash grenades and tear gas. Those events have prompted lawmakers, to investigate who ordered the attack on protesters and why. The D.C. National Guard, usually deployed to help after natural disasters or to assist with managing crowds in large public events, was called in with Guard units from other states to respond to the growing protests in front of the White House after George Floyd’s killing. The Guard’s job on June 1 was not to clear protesters, DeMarco says, but to “hold a static line,” establishing a new security perimeter around the White House. The Park Police began issuing orders to protesters to evacuate the park 40 minutes before the city’s curfew began.