Republican members of Congress, meanwhile, accused the District’s liberal leadership of allowing D.C. protesters to harass and set fire to the property of Trump supporters. These incidents, along with more than six months of tense encounters with police, have convinced many D.C. protesters that police will not protect them, so they have been preparing to protect themselves. Rotating shifts of anti-Trump demonstrators plan to patrol Black Lives Matter Plaza through the weekend, looking for attempts to tear down signs or vandalize protest murals. Looking at the row of officers, she said it seemed police were doing little to protect D.C. counterprotesters from the largely out-of-town crowd. D.C. protesters have encouraged residents to call in reports of violations at businesses that hosted Trump supporters last month.

Source: Washington Post December 11, 2020 23:31 UTC