A group of civil rights organizations now say that Metropolitan Police officers used tear gas to clear protesters from around Lafayette Square on June 1. The organizations have amended a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the clearing of Lafayette Square to include D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham and unnamed MPD officers.
The lawsuit contradicts previous statements from Newsham: “We [MPD] were not involved in the movement of the president — the unplanned movement of the president,” he said at a press conference after the incident.
MPD refutes the lawsuit’s claim, and responded to DCist with the following statement: “The Metropolitan Police Department was not involved in the unscheduled movement of the President from Lafayette Square to St. John’s church on June 1, 2020.”
Around 6:30 p.m. on June 1, 30 minutes before a citywide curfew went into effect, a mass of law enforcement aggressively cleared demonstrators from Lafayette Square so the president could pose for photos at St. John’s Church.
The ACLU of D.C., the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the law firm Arnold & Porter filed a lawsuit in early June on behalf of Black Lives Matter D.C. and numerous local residents who were in Lafayette Square. The suit argues that law enforcement violated the protesters’ constitutional rights.
On Wednesday, the ACLU announced the addition of two new plaintiffs, Dustin Foley and his 15-year-old daughter, identified as E.X.F, who say MPD officers fired tear gas at them.
According to the lawsuit, Foley and his daughter came to protest and distribute sandwiches and water bottles to others. They were at the northwest corner of Lafayette Square when federal law enforcement used chemical irritants to disperse the crowd, the lawsuit says.
Foley and E.X.F. say they encountered a line of officers in riot gear at the intersection of H and 17 Streets NW, who they “have since learned” were with MPD. Foley and his daughter headed down 17th Street NW, walking along a stretch of sidewalk covered by construction scaffolding, per the lawsuit.
“[T]he MPD officers began firing tear gas canisters at the demonstrators, including Mr. Foley and E.X.F., who were fleeing Lafayette Square down 17th Street NW,” the lawsuit states, “Both Mr. Foley and E.X.F. immediately felt the severe effects of the tear gas fired by the MPD officers, including burning eyes and difficulty breathing.”
Foley and his daughter “attempted to take shelter” just outside the construction scaffolding. A filmmaker, Roddy Hafiz, captured footage of Foley as he tries to tell advancing officers that he is with his daughter who is having trouble breathing. Foley says that to comply with the officers’ demands, he and his daughter had to walk into a cloud of tear gas, though this portion is not captured on video.
During a press conference the next day, Newsham said he was alerted about Trump’s plans to visit the church “shortly before it occurred.”
“The Metropolitan Police Department did not participate. So, it would be out of turn for me to speak about who, what, where and how munitions were deployed,” he said.
The lawsuit — initially filed June 4 — also names Attorney General William Barr, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other federal officials. Plaintiffs say that authorities gave no warnings before they used tear gas, pepper spray capsules, rubber bullets and flash bombs to clear the area.
The U.S. Park Police and the Secret Service have denied that they used tear gas, but this contradicts the experience of protesters and reporters on the ground who said they were hit with the chemical irritants. A WUSA9 reporter also photographed tear gas and “Skat Shell” canisters reportedly found at the scene.
The House Natural Resource Committee recently held a hearing probing the removal of protesters from Lafayette Square where witnesses denounced the “aggressive tactics” law enforcement used that night.
