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President Donald Trump encouraged his supporters to rally at the White House, inviting a potentially dangerous mix of protesters after people angry about the death of an unarmed black man in Minnesota police custody skirmished with the Secret Service on Friday.

He threatened the unlimited power of the U.S. military to clamp down on demonstrations, tweeting from Air Force One as he traveled to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for the launch of a SpaceX spacecraft. The military is ready, willing and able to assist, Trump said earlier.

In a series of tweets early on Saturday, Trump also seemed to revel in the potential for violence outside the White House, warning that Fridays protesters would have been met by the most vicious dogs and most ominous weapons had they dared to breach the fence around the property.

He depicted Secret Services agents as eager to battle the demonstrators, and later issued an appeal to his supporters to assemble: Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???

Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser rebuked the president in her own series of tweets, calling him a scared man. Afraid/alone and saying she stood with people peacefully protesting the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis this week.

Those demonstrations were not altogether peaceful, though. The Secret Service said in a statement that it arrested six people and that multiple personnel from the agency were injured when protesters assaulted them with bricks, rocks, bottles, fireworks and other items.

Videos from Fridays demonstration showed protesters chasing journalists from the park and throwing objects at officers wearing riot gear, and Secret Service officers responding with pepper spray.

Contrary to Trumps assertion that Bowser wouldnt let the D.C. police get involved, the Secret Service said the citys police and U.S. Park Police were also on the scene of the protests.

Bowser called a press conference on Saturday to discuss the situation. I call upon our city and our nation to exercise great restraint, even while the president tries to divide us, she said.

Trump told reporters he had no idea if his boosters would assemble on Saturday night at the White House.

I heard that MAGA wanted to be there that a lot of MAGA was going to be there, Trump said as he departed the White House, using the acronym for Make America Great Again.

Washington on Friday entered Phase One of its reopening from coronavirus stay-at-home restrictions. Large gatherings of people are currently prohibited.

Trump also tweeted that ANTIFA and the Radical Left were stoking protests against Floyds death, a day after saying he understood the pain that demonstrators were feeling. Antifa, short for anti-fascist, is sometimes used to describe militant left-wing activists.

Attorney General William Barr made a brief televised statement to make similar comments, tying the protests to groups of outside radicals and agitators exploiting the situation.

It is a federal crime to cross state lines or to use interstate facilities to incite or participate in violent rioting. We will enforce these laws, Barr said. He took no questions.

Minnesota officials, including the states Democratic governor, echoed Trumps suggestion that organized agitators were exploiting anger about the death of Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man.

The situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd, Governor Tim Walz said. It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities.

Video showed a white police officer in Minneapolis kneeling on Floyds neck to the point the arrested man could no longer breathe. The officer, Derek Chauvin, was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

In Washington, demonstrators gathered in a park across from the White House around dusk on Friday, briefly causing the compound to be locked down. It was just one of a string of protests around the country, from Atlanta to Oakland, California.

Trump said he watched every move of Fridays protests outside the White House, and couldnt have felt more safe.

Had protesters breached the complexs fence, they would have faced the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, Trump said. Thats when people would have been really badly hurt, at least.

Bowser said in her briefing that Trumps reference to attack dogs was no subtle reminder to African-Americans of segregationists that let dogs out on women, children and innocent people in the South. She called the comments an attack on humanity.

Friday nights protests came on a day after Trump appeared to threaten violence against certain demonstrators, tweeting overnight that when the looting starts, the shooting starts.

The phrase echoed a remark made in 1967 by a white Miami police chief when announcing tougher policing policies for the Florida citys black neighborhoods. In a rare reversal, Trump later said his tweet wasnt intended as a threat, but merely meant to discourage looting that has historically coincided with violence.

Trump also said hed spoken with Floyds family and that he understood the hurt and pain of demonstrators.

We have peaceful protesters, and support the rights for peaceful protesters, Trump said Friday. We cant allow a situation like in Minneapolis to descend further into lawless anarchy and chaos.

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Originally posted here:
Trump Suggests 'MAGA' Fans Gather at White House, While Threatening to Clamp Down on Demonstrations With Military - TIME