Live updates: Huge ‘Black Lives Matter’ letters painted on street near White House; D.C. mayor urges Trump to withdraw federal forces

Lodging for out-of-state National Guard troops is the latest flash point in the fight for D.C. streets between Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and President Trump.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) accused Bowser of kicking out more than 1,200 troops from 10 states, including Utah.

“These brave men and women have risked their lives protecting DC for three days. Rioting, looting, arson, and vandalism have all disappeared [because] these soldiers served,” Lee tweeted shortly after midnight Friday. “And now they are being kicked to the curb by an ungrateful mayor. This must be stopped.”

In a response, Bowser tweeted that D.C. residents would not cover the costs of housing out-of-state troops the city did not request.

“Senator — until they are recalled home — which I have formally requested from the President, your troops are in D.C. Hotels, However, D.C. residents cannot pay their hotel bills. The Army can clear that up with the hotel today, and we are willing to help.”

A spokesman for Lee said Utah National Guard members had to check out of their hotel at noon, with Friday accommodations “up in the air.” The spokesman declined to identify the hotel.

“This is not a Third Amendment issue,” said Conn Carroll, a spokesman for Lee, referring to the amendment prohibiting the quartering of troops in private homes. “This is a political choice by the mayor’s office to cancel a contract for lodging between D.C. and the Guard.”

A government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions, said the dispute was because the city government’s contract with at least one hotel was to house medical responders to the covid-19 crisis, including the D.C. National Guard, when it was activated to assist with pandemic response.

“The hotel was used for medical professionals helping around the city, and it’s only for that purpose based on the contract, so the Guard was staying there without paying for it, and they don’t have the right to stay there,” the official said. “We can’t really kick them out of the hotel, but they can’t expect us to pay for it.”

Metro will reopen the first and last rail cars on transit trains starting Saturday as it expects to see a surge in riders because of a large protest in Washington of the killing of George Floyd.

“There is the potential for significantly higher ridership this weekend as peaceful protests continue in and around the District of Columbia in the wake of the killing of George Floyd,” Metro Chief Operating Officer Joseph Leader told employees in a letter Friday.

The transit agency had kept the cars closed on eight-car trains as a way to protect rail operators from interacting with passengers during the novel coronavirus pandemic. While operators work in enclosed compartments, the added buffer was a safeguard demanded by the transit union representing most of Metro’s workers.

Metro has seen a slight uptick in passenger trips since the District, Maryland and Virginia began lifting business restrictions imposed in response to the viral outbreak, the transit agency reported. But Metro’s recovery plan does not include adding more buses or trains into service until at least the fall. Also, nearly 30 Metro stations have been closed to save on cleaning supplies and staffing, and for summer construction projects.

Opening the first and last cars is one of the few options Metro has to increase capacity, and officials said the move will be indefinite, not just for Saturday.

“Reopening the cars gives instant 33-percent increase in system capacity — at a time when the ‘theoretical maximum’ of perfectly observed social distancing is about 20 [passengers] per car,” Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said in a statement. “Once reopened, [it’s] easier from [a] policy perspective to simply keep them open going forward.”

Metro ridership has not seen a significant increase since its service areas began lifting business restrictions late last month. Rail ridership has remained consistently 90 percent or more lower than pre-pandemic levels, while Metrobus ridership has hovered at about 70 percent lower. On Thursday, Metrorail passenger trips were 93 percent lower than pre-pandemic levels, according to the transit agency. Metrobus passenger trips were 68 percent lower.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) formally asked President Trump to “withdraw all extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence from Washington, D.C.”

Her Thursday letter to the president came after a sixth night of demonstrations ended in no arrests. The Thursday night demonstrations, interrupted by thunderstorms, were also largely peaceful.

The Trump administration this week deployed military police and federal law enforcement to respond to demonstrations, drawing widespread criticism from activists and local officials that the tactics were making the situation worse.

“The deployment of federal law enforcement personnel and equipment are inflaming demonstrators and adding to the grievances of those who, by and large, are peacefully protesting for change and for reforms to the racist and broken systems that are killing Black Americans,” Bowser wrote.

The mayor criticized unidentified federal law enforcement officials patrolling the streets of her city and operating outside “established chains of commands.”

“This multiplicity of forces can breed dangerous confusion, such as when helicopters are used in a war-like tactic to frighten and disperse peaceful protestors,” Bowser wrote. “My view is that law enforcement should be in place to protect the rights of American citizens, not restrict them.”

Local artists and city staff members are painting “Black Lives Matter” in massive yellow letters on 16th Street near the White House.

Artists arrived to begin painting about 4 a.m., said local artist Rose Jaffey, who was among dozens still working at 9:30 a.m.

The art will take up two blocks on 16th Street, between K and H streets.

An organizer said Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) planned to announce the display at an 11 a.m. news conference.

“I’m conflicted about doing it. It’s about wanting to reclaim the streets, but I also know that it is a little bit of a photo op,” said Jaffey, a D.C. native. “Where is the action behind this?”

She said she would like Bowser to decrease funding for the police department and to see officers express more support for protests, which began a week ago in the District.

Bah-Pna Dahane, who is originally from Chad, said he was finishing up a run near the White House when he saw the painting. Dahane, 45, said he decided to volunteer because he has been a victim of police brutality in New York and knows that change won’t happen if people don’t act.

“I said, ‘you know what, let’s do it, let’s make it happen,’ ” he said as he painted.

The move comes after nearly a week of daily demonstrations by thousands of protesters who have been pushing to end racial injustice following the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis.

On social media, the Black Lives Matter DC group reacted to the painting and was critical of Bowser.

“This is performative and a distraction from her active counter organizing to our demands to decrease the police budget and invest in the community. Black Lives Matter means Defund the police,” the group said on Twitter.

Lafayette Square, where hundreds of protesters were cleared by force Monday night before President Trump’s walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church, was once the site of a slave market. Hundreds of enslaved black people were bought and sold in the square across from the White House.

John W. Franklin, senior manager emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, said he thought about that horrifying history when the National Guard, Secret Service and U.S. Park Police used chemical gas, rubber bullets and batons against those protesting a modern form of brutality: the killing of unarmed people of color by white police officers.

Enslaved people helped build the White House. At least eight of the first 12 presidents brought enslaved people with them to labor at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., according to the White House Historical Association.

“We know about the construction of D.C., but we don’t know who built it, where the slave markets were. Where the slave quarters were. Did you know Lafayette Square was a slave market? We know Arena Stage on the Wharf, but do know that is where all the slave ships came in?” said Franklin, the son of renowned historian John Hope Franklin and the grandson of John Franklin, who was an eyewitness to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. “Enslaved people were kept in slave pens along Independence Avenue.”

Protesters marching through the nation’s capital on Friday will find new spaces to rest and recharge: local theaters that have been unable to welcome audiences for weeks.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre, located in Penn Quarter near the route protesters have taken to march from the White House to the U.S. Capitol, will open Friday.

The theater plans a full-fledged operation meant to meet a long list of protesters’ needs. From noon to 10 p.m., the lobby will be filled with water, snacks, places to recharge electronics and a first-aid station, where medical professionals and mental health specialists will be available to treat anyone in need.

“It was important to me to figure out how to show solidarity in my actions and make sure that I am not buying into performative activism,” said Dylan Arredondo, a 24-year-old independent organizer who rallied more than 60 volunteers to help at Woolly Mammoth.

It is the latest theater to open its doors to protesters.

Edgar Dobie, executive producer at Arena Stage, decided to offer his theater as refuge after he watched police fire pepper balls and rubber bullets outside the White House on Monday.

“Those meant to protect our rights turned on us,” he said. “You just cannot ignore that.”

The theater on the Southwest Waterfront shut down as the novel coronavirus pandemic sent the District into lockdown three months ago. At noon Thursday, its doors burst open, welcoming inside 10 protesters at a time in adherence to the city’s social distancing rules. The lobby, full of natural light, had tables with water and masks available for those who needed them.

The theater will be open again Friday, Dobie said, and every day thereafter when protesters decide to march through the nation’s capital for racial justice. Arena Stage is also planning to co-host an outdoor candlelight vigil on Monday for a visual demonstration of artists uniting in the fight for justice.

A 10-minute drive away, the doors to Studio Theatre in Logan Circle were also ajar Thursday for the first time in months. Protesters walked past windows painted with “Black Lives Matter” and a door that read “Stop Killing Us” as they entered the lobby, where they could recharge cellphones and use the restroom.

“We exist to produce art, and that impact goes beyond the stage,” said Rebecca Ende Lichtenberg, the theater’s managing director. “It is not just the art; it is the action we are taking.”

Lichtenberg and her team had decided to play a role in the protests on a Zoom call Thursday morning. Less than five hours later, she said, her theater was open with renewed life and purpose for its community. The team plans to hand out food Friday, when the theater will open again at noon.

At just before 11 p.m. Thursday, a crowd of protesters arrived at the Lincoln Memorial, where they were met by a cluster of U.S. Park Police officers, who stood on the steps behind a metal barricade.

“No one deserves to be killed because of the color of their skin!” someone shouted at one officer, a man in a white shirt who gazed at the crowd, expressionless. “We just want to know you recognize it!” a woman yelled.

“Everybody is just pleading with you to say something — to say, ‘I understand,’” another woman shouted.

Someone else told the officer that his silence meant “you want me dead, my family dead, everyone around me dead. So if you’re not speaking, you are a problem!”

“We don’t want anybody dead tonight,” the officer replied.

“Tonight?!!” a few in the audience shouted in disbelief.

The officer tried again. “We don’t want anybody dead,” he said. “We are out here so you all can peacefully exercise your First Amendment rights.”

“How do you feel?” someone asked and now, for a moment, their encounter began to feel like group therapy, with Abraham Lincoln looming up the stairs.

“How do you feel about George Floyd?” someone else asked. “Shut up and let him talk!”

The officer began repeating what he said about the importance of free speech.

“YOU’RE A BROKEN RECORD!” a protester shouted. “YOU’RE A ROBOT!” another yelled.

“How about we shut up and give the man an opportunity to speak?” a woman said.

Ashley Knight Williams, 21, a protester, cut through the clatter of voices. “This is not productive,” she said, addressing the officer. “With all due respect — because I believe in respect — what is your name?”

“Captain Jeffrey Schneider,” he replied. She encouraged him to talk to his children “about the racial injustices in this country. This is a f—ing revolution!”

“Where are your masks?” a protester shouted. “What’s your badge number?”

“After the protesters were tear-gassed in Lafayette for a photo op — did that make you proud to be a Park police officer?” Silence.

“You can text me the answer!” someone yelled and then laughed. The captain maintained his steady gaze.

Bryce Cromartie, 32, who lives in Northwest, asked about park police officers harassing poor African Americans.

“You lock us up for marijuana,” he said. “You target our communities.”

“I cannot speak to specific cases you’re talking about,” Schneider said.

A group of protesters approached four officers a few yards away.

“All your buddies over here called us a bunch of names,” a cop said. “You think that makes us want to talk to you?”

“I apologize,” a woman said.

“Too late,” the officer said.

“Why are you smirking?” a woman asked Capt. Schneider.

“Give my captain a break,” said Lt. Simeon Klebaner, now at Schneider’s side.

“He rolled his eyes!” she insisted.

“We’ve all been on duty for an extended period of time,” the lieutenant said. “Twelve hours a day, 14 hours day, 16 hours a day. Perhaps he’s just exhausted.”

“Do you feel good about what you’re doing?” a man asked Klebaner. “I’m not allowed to talk about my personal feelings,” he said. “But I enjoy having a dialogue with people.”

Cromartie told Capt. Schneider about two police officers who arrested him a dozen years ago for assault. He said he was later cleared but that the incident shaped his negative view of the police.

“Not every police officer is that same police officer you had that experience with,” the captain said. “I’m sorry.”

The men nodded. For that moment, at least, they appeared to understand each other.

After a day with searing summer heat and an evening downpour of rain, protesters continued to demonstrate following the death of George Floyd while he was in police custody in Minneapolis.

Here are some photos from the streets of Washington.

They didn’t have a plan at first. Five friends determined to join protests over the police killing of George Floyd arrived in downtown Washington on Saturday with one goal: Get to the White House.

As they walked south toward the bright white pillars in the distance, the group began to call out to passersby — people out for walks or jogs, some curiously eyeing the young people brandishing signs and face masks, marching with their fists held high.

“Walk with us,” called Jasmine Grobes, 27. “Come on! Walk with us.”

By the time they reached the metal barricades around Lafayette Square, that group of five had swelled to nearly 50 times that number. Many returned the next day. More arrived the next and the day after that.

Though the issues at the core of these protests are not new, experts said, the diversity of the crowd and the sustained momentum is. Several longtime protesters have wondered: Why now? Experts cite a confluence of factors, including a mainstreaming of protests, a backlash to citywide vandalism, the response to a fortified Washington, frustration with the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and a growing recognition of unequal treatment of black people.

Military Humvees glide along the wide avenues of the District. Armored vehicles for days blocked streets that were no longer under the control of D.C. police. Federal officers wearing combat gear and cradling rifles have been spotted without name tags or even agency insignia. Soldiers guard the monuments.

The Trump administration’s decision to send federal officers into the District in response to days of sometimes volatile demonstrations has given the nation’s capital the appearance of an armed camp, with the District’s mayor and police chief appearing sidelined and federal officers unaccountable to local residents and their elected leaders.

A Justice Department official said the additional federal law enforcement officers on the ground in the District number in “the thousands.”

“It is a definite feeling that our city is being occupied by federal forces,” said Michael G. Tobin, who heads a District office that investigates complaints against D.C. police. He also is a former colonel in the Army National Guard, who, along with members of the D.C. Council, were barred by an armed Department of Homeland Security officer from walking down part of Virginia Avenue on Tuesday.

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and President Trump were engaged in an escalating contest over control of Washington streets when the email from a military planner set off new alarms in the mayor’s office.

The official was seeking guidance Wednesday afternoon for the U.S. Northern Command in determining “route restrictions” for the “movement of tactical vehicles” and “military forces” from Fort Belvoir, Va., into the city to assist in “Civil Disturbance Operations.”

To Bowser’s aides, the request smacked of an imminent escalation in the federal force Trump had marshaled to quell the large street demonstrations over police brutality near the White House — the centerpiece of his bid to project the image of a strong leader who would establish “law and order” where local leaders had failed across the nation. Days earlier, Trump had falsely accused Bowser (D) in a tweet of refusing to allow D.C. police to assist in crowd control in Lafayette Square.

“The last time they asked us about that was in preparation to move tanks to the city for the Fourth of July” celebration last summer, said one D.C. government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private request. “We don’t want it to happen.”