Crime & Safety
White House Briefly Locked Down Amid George Floyd Protests
Multiple news outlets reported the lockdown was put in place due to protests in nearby Lafayette Park.
WASHINGTON, DC — The White House was put under a brief lockdown Friday night due to protests over George Floyd's death in nearby Lafayette Park.
Several reporters said they were asked to remain inside the White House Press Room during the lockdown.
NEWS: White House is under lockdown orders from the U.S. Secret Service amid protests outside the gates over George Floyd, @MarioDParker reports.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) May 29, 2020
The White House is under lockdown orders from the U.S. Secret Service due to protests outside the gates over George Floyd. A dozen reporters, myself included, still inside the West Wing.
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) May 29, 2020
White House spokesperson Judd Deere confirmed the lockdown to USA Today.
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CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins tweeted, "Secret Service has closed the park and isn’t letting anyone off the White House grounds at the moment. You can hear chants of, 'I can’t breathe.'”
Outside the White House, Secret Service was seen taking at least one person into custody, USA Today reported.
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Washington, D.C. is among several U.S. cities where protesters took to the streets Friday, calling for change and demanding justice for George Floyd, a black man who died earlier this week while in the custody of four white Minneapolis police officers.
Floyd was identified in a now-viral video that showed him gasping for breath while a police officer kneeled on his neck for almost eight minutes. In footage recorded by a bystander, Floyd pleads that he cannot breathe until he slowly stops talking and moving.
The officer, Derek Chauvin, and three others were fired Tuesday. On Friday, Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
On Friday, President Donald Trump spoke with Floyd's family, saying he understood their pain.
This was hours after Twitter hid one of Trump's tweets about the riots in Minneapolis. The social media platform says it "violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence."
"These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way," Trump wrote.
"Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"
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