Scores of protesters marched in Washington, DC, on Saturday in opposition to President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of town’s police division and deployment of National Guard troops to the capital.
Holding indicators that learn “protect DC home rule” and “stop the Trump takeover,” members within the “We Are All DC” march journeyed from Meridian Hill Park to Freedom Plaza close to the White House to protest what they see as Trump’s authoritarian push to manage the district.
“To see the destruction of the federal workforce and the importation of the National Guard to try to keep peace where crime is at the lowest it’s been in 30 years. It’s just, it moved me to protest,” David Reinke, a former authorities contractor who lives in neighboring Maryland, advised NCS.
Last month, Trump declared a criminal offense emergency and ordered the federal authorities to take management of DC’s police division, surged federal law enforcement into the district and deployed National Guard troops – a broad effort that has drawn the ire of many metropolis residents.
DC’s violent crime price has plummeted within the final a long time and reached its lowest since 1966 in 2024, NCS previously reported.
Of the National Guard troops in DC, Howard University pupil Stephanie Collins-Stewart advised NCS, “I honestly feel like it’s a tactic, like they’re trying to intimidate us. But I’ve been going here for school for the past few years and I know what DC is like. It’s pretty calm for the most part.”
Another protester, Kristine Sieloff, a public faculty trainer from Baltimore, advised NCS she’s involved Trump will quickly ship the National Guard to her metropolis — which he has threatened — arguing that it’s simply “a show of force that’s meant to intimidate people.”
Marchers on Saturday additionally held anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement indicators, and a few members NCS spoke to expressed disapproval of the Trump administration’s ICE raids, arguing that it’s pulling households aside.
“There’s got to be a more humane and more diplomatic way to deal with people who are undocumented, and the way they’re doing it is very inhumane,” Tammi Price, a retired trainer, advised NCS.
“There’s so much more that could be done with the millions and millions of dollars that taxpayers are paying for occupation, the occupation of ICE and the National Guard,” she argued. “Those are our tax dollars.”
The mission is costing roughly $1 million a day, consultants estimated to NCS.
NCS’s Jenna Monnin contributed to this report.