Protest near White House stays calm after curfew

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

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

Protesters chanted and talked among themselves, most wearing masks, but not social distancing in the age of COVID-19. One protester, Mati Yiheyis, a 21-year-old college student at the 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 others. “It’s not what we’re about,” said protester George “T.J.” Pierce of Washington.

The 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 the fence, chanting at the line of police and soldiers in riot gear on the other side.

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

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