Protestor affected by tear gas @WTOP pic.twitter.com/Cae81JaMAF
— Michelle Basch (@mbaschWTOP) January 20, 2017
A flood of protesters assembled at the site of a pro-Trump ball in D.C., turning much of F Street into a chaotic scene amid skirmishes with both police officers and Deploraball attendees.
Police have deployed tear gas to push protesters back. And RT’s Alexander Rubinstein tweeted that police pushed his head “into heavy camera” and protesters are throwing bikes, explosives, signs, and more.
Police push my head into heavy camera, protesters throw bike, explosives, signs and water balloons. Then I got hit by pepper spray grenade pic.twitter.com/ag6O5tm8L3
— Alexander Rubinstein (@AlexR_DC) January 20, 2017
The sold-out event is taking place at the National Press Club, after the Clarendon Ballroom declined to host the event, and has been dubbed “the biggest meme party you’ve ever seen.”
It is now also the site of the biggest protest seen in D.C. since the inauguration festivities began. Protesters have brought a huge elephant float with a banner that reads simply: “racism.” Someone projected “impeach the predatory president” on the building.
Surrounded by police, many in the large crowd had been holding signs and chanting to the beat of live drumming.
A Trump supporter in attendance live-streamed his entry into the building via @SmythRadio. “There are so many cops here… there’s probably one cop for every five people, I think,” he says, narrating the scene.
Protests at #deploraball
https://t.co/uzVRC6mFb4— Smyth Radio (@SmythRadio) January 20, 2017
“The protesters aren’t really doing anything but standing around and chanting a little bit.. it seems a little bit low energy,” he taunts. “These cops aren’t going to have much to do here, thankfully.”
That turned out to be the opposite of the case, as the crowd grew increasingly rowdy.
As attendees leave the building, protesters have been seen throwing water bottles at them and shouting “Nazi scum”—prompting police to once again deploy tear gas.
People leaving Deploraball have water bottles thrown at them and followed by people shouting “Nazi Scum.” pic.twitter.com/x2SLvDeq8h
— Hailey Branson-Potts (@haileybranson) January 20, 2017
Police use pepper spray after empty bottles thrown at #DeploraBall attendees. More pepper spray in my eyes pic.twitter.com/LmCZCFIWaO
— Alexander Rubinstein (@AlexR_DC) January 20, 2017
Protesters were also spotting setting things on fire, though it wasn’t clear what exactly they were.
#DisruptJ20 protester lifts fire outside the #DeploraBall pic.twitter.com/CFcCEEcEl9
— Alexander Rubinstein (@AlexR_DC) January 20, 2017
This post has been updated