Thousands took to the streets of
Washington DC for peaceful protests, but pockets of violence saw clashes
between police and the president’s dissenters
More than two hundred protesters
were arrested on Friday as police used pepper spray and stun grenades to
suppress a series of small, violent confrontations before and after Donald
Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.
Thousands of protesters from numerous
groups have descended on DC for
mostly peaceful protest throughout inauguration day, in a sign of the dissent
and discord Trump’s divisive presidential campaign produced
Shortly after Trump was sworn in,
violent protests broke out in the downtown area close to the north lawn of the
White House and just blocks from the pathway of the inaugural parade. A few
dozen protesters, clad in black, threw projectiles at police and barricaded the
road with newspaper kiosks and bins, which they later set fire to.
The group were quickly surrounded by
police in riot gear who used stun grenades and pepper spray after a black
limousine was set on fire.
Before the swearing in ceremony took
place activists from the anarchist group known as the black bloc smashed
storefront windows and cars as they clashed with police. Officers in riot gear
had again responded with pepper spray and stun grenades as the breakaway
protesters were overwhelmed with force less than two miles from the US Capitol.
The group of about 200 people, many
wearing black hoodies and masks, were eventually contained by officers as they
chanted: “This is what a police state looks like” and “You’re protecting
fascists”. Eyewitnesses reported only a handful of arrests.
Most of the protesters declined to
be interviewed or named, but one man who refused to give his name said their
purpose was to reject “a system of economic exploitation called capitalism”.
“It’s not just about no order,” he
said. “It’s about human freedom and an economy that’s run by the people.”
A spokesman for the DC metropolitan
police said law enforcement had arrested 217 people by Friday evening while six
officers suffered injuries. The spokesman also denied that officers had
deployed teargas on protesters, despite media reports suggesting otherwise.
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