August 16, 2025
Brian Mann and Chandelis Duster
WASHINGTON — Hundreds gathered peacefully in the nation’s capital on Saturday afternoon to protest President Trump’s attempted takeover of the city’s police department and deployment of National Guard units alongside federal agents.
Starting with a rally in the northwest neighborhood of DuPont Circle, protesters chanted, “Shame” and “Trump must go now!” while demanding an end to the “crime emergency” that Trump declared in an executive order on Monday.
Protesters later marched to the White House, continuing to chant, as D.C. Metropolitan Police officers and National Park Service police looked on from a distance.
…Sam Goldman, spokesperson for Refuse Fascism, a group that helped organize the march, told NPR that it’s time for more people to make their voices heard.
“We have to turn the tide. We have to wake up all the decent people in this country, including in Washington, D.C.,” Goldman said. “Millions and millions in our bones hate everything that Trump and MAGA represent, everything they’ve done and everything they’re doing.”