Hundreds of unarmed D.C. National Guardsmen will be sent to help protect monuments in the District amid ongoing protests, the National Guard Bureau said on Wednesday.

In an emailed statement to DCist, Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Craig Clapper, a spokesman for the D.C. National Guard, said, “At the request of the Secretary of the Interior, and approval of the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army activated approx. 400 D.C. National Guard members to support the National Park Police in a civil disturbance and security role around D.C.”

Clapper added that since guardsmen were activated, none of them have been dispatched to monuments to assist the Park Police with preventing them from being defaced or damaged. The guardsmen are currently on standby at the National Guard Armory.

The news comes as a number of controversial statues in the D.C. area — and across the country — have become targets for anti-racism demonstrators in the wake of protests following the killing of George Floyd, which saw tense clashes between police and participants early this week.

More than 100 protesters gathered at Lincoln Park on Tuesday night, calling for the removal of  the Emancipation Memorial, which depicts Abraham Lincoln standing above a former enslaved Black man with broken shackles on his wrist.

A petition for the statue’s removal has also gained momentum over the past week.

On Monday, some protesters in Lafayette Square scaled and tried to tear down a statue of Andrew Jackson, and over the weekend, a crowd toppled and burned a statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike in Judiciary Square. The National Park Service oversees all three statues and the land where they are located.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, President Donald Trump threatened jail time for those who vandalized or damaged monuments, statues or other federal property. Federal law already says people who vandalize monuments of veterans can face up to 10 years in prison.

National guardsmen were previously activated earlier this month as large-scale protests rattled the District, and more than 5,000 troops were deployed to D.C. from a dozen states. The aggressive show of force, which included other federal law enforcement personnel, drew criticism from local officials and protesters, as the demonstrations were largely peaceful.

The Pentagon has since ordered a review of the National Guard’s role in the protests.