6/11/2020

POLICE/PROTESTS: “U.S. and military police drove protesters out of Lafayette Square, located between the White House and the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church, shortly before a presidential photo op with a Bible at the church on June 1.

Images of the confrontation further divided a nation already reeling from days of protests, some violent. The demonstrations followed the death of George Floyd, 46, an African American man who died May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck for more than 8 minutes…

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president wanted to send ‘a very powerful message that we will not be overcome by looting, by rioting, by burning’ and compared Trump’s visit to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s inspection of bomb damage during the London Blitz in World War II.”

-Karl Gelles, Veronica Bravo, and George Petras, “How police pushed aside protesters ahead of Trump’s controversial church photo,” usatoday.com, June 11, 2020