On Monday night, clashes between police and demonstrators culminated in a particularly intense confrontation on and around Swann Street, and on Wednesday police chief Peter Newsham defended the actions of officers involved.

In a news conference, Newsham commented on the incident, during which nearly 200 people arrested and resident Rahul Dubey invited protesters to take shelter in his home overnight while police waited outside.

Dubey told NBC Washington that he decided to act after seeing protesters “absolutely decimated and beaten,” but Newsham said he had no evidence to corroborate the claim and that no arrestees were visibly injured.

However, he said the Internal Affairs Bureau will conduct a “through review” of the allegations of excessive force.

“Knowing everything that I know about the Metropolitan Police Department, our tactics, that was very disturbing to hear,” Newsham said. The Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to DCist’s request for comment on the details investigation.

Newsham said police stopped the group of demonstrators who were out past the 7 p.m. curfew set by Mayor Muriel Bowser, and that they had been given multiple warnings they could be arrested.

He said police saw protesters kicking doors on Swann Street and called in the possible crimes, and that at least one citizen had also reported the incidents.

Dubey has not yet returned a request for comment on Newsham’s statement. Dubey previously told DCist that he was on his porch when he saw that about 40 police officers had formed a barricade at the corner of 15th and Swann streets, the latter a narrow residential street, and were refusing to let demonstrators out.

After hearing people chant, “Let us through!,” he heard a loud bang and saw a cloud of pepper spray. He and a group of protesters retreated inside the home, where they stayed for the rest of the night, even as police were allegedly pepper-spraying through the window.

“It was an hour and a half of pure mayhem,” Dubey said of the immediate aftermath.

Samanta Troper, a 24-year-old who spent the night inside Rahul Dubey’s house on Swann Street, says demonstrators rushed into Dubey’s home after they were hemmed in by police and pepper sprayed.

About 60 people stayed inside the house until curfew was lifted around 6 a.m., Troper says. She says police were stationed near Dubey’s home until about 5 a.m. Throughout the night, some police were positioned on the opposite side of a fence in the backyard.“Seeing that behavior just scared me,” she says.

Newsham said Wednesday that MPD’s use of pepper spray will be part of IAB’s investigation.

The incident on Swann Street was one of a number of heated skirmishes between demonstrators and law enforcement that have taken place in recent days, as back-to-back protests over the death of George Floyd have rattled D.C.

But after Monday, when police violently cleared protesters from Lafayette Square and low-flying military helicopters hovered over protesters, demonstrations on Tuesday night were relatively peaceful.

Despite increased police presence, including an additional 1,500 national guardsmen brought in from out of state, many protesters stayed out well past curfew.