Protest near White House stays calm after curfew

protest in nation’s capital on Tuesday night lacked tension of previous nights’ demonstrations. crowd in Lafayette Park near White House was peaceful, polite even, as y protested death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minnesota.

Instead of spray-painted tags, protesters Tuesday favored colorful children’s street chalk, writing Black Lives Matter slogans on asphalt in front of St. John’s Church.

Protesters chanted and talked among mselves, most wearing masks, but t social distancing in of COVID-19. One protester, Mati Yiheyis, a 21-year-old college student at University of Virginia, speculated that fears of coronavirus kept many older people away.

When one protester climbed a lamp post and removed a street sign he was roundly booed by ors. “It’s t what we’re about,” said protester George “T.J.” Pierce of Washington.

crowd started thinning out on its own after 8 p.m., an hour after a curfew went into place, although a core group of several hundred remained at fence, chanting at line of police and soldiers in riot gear on or side.

On Monday, law enforcement officers on foot and horseback aggressively drove protesters away from Lafayette Park, clearing way for President Donald Trump to do a photo op at St. John’s Church, kwn as church of presidents.

On Tuesday, pastors at church prayed with demonstrators and handed out water bottles.