WASHINGTON, June 5 -- Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Friday requested that President Donald Trump "withdraw all extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence" in the nation's capital after the president sent in forces to tackle the protests related to the death of George Floyd.
Bowser, a Democrat of African-American descent, wrote in a letter that she has ended the state of emergency in the district related to demonstrations against the death of Floyd, a black man killed last week under the custody of white police in Minneapolis.
The mayor noted that protests in the capital have been "peaceful," and that the Metropolitan Police Department, for the second consecutive night, "did not make a single arrest" Thursday night.
"I continue to be concerned that unidentified federal personnel patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C. pose both safety and national security risks," Bowser told Trump in the letter, adding that federal law enforcement personnel and equipment "are inflaming demonstrations and adding to the grievances of those who, by and large, are peacefully protesting for change and for reforms to the racist and broken systems that are killing Black Americans."
Trump, whose threat to deploy active-duty military forces to quell the protests has drawn harsh and broad condemnation from both current and former officials, said Friday that his plan to address racism in the country is to provide a strong economy for the African American community.
While touting the unexpected decline in unemployment in May, the president said at the White House Rose Garden that a strong economy is "the greatest thing that can happen for race relations" as well as minorities including African Americans.