Tuesday marks one year since President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency in D.C. and deployed the National Guard, and one advocacy group marked the occasion with a protest.
The group Free D.C. has been pushing back on what it calls an occupation by the National Guard and advocates for home rule and the District’s right to self-determination.
Free D.C. held a rally and march Monday night starting at Franklin Park to protest the National Guard’s presence in D.C., with a focus on protecting vulnerable residents.
鈥淥ur unhoused neighbors are, in this occupation, are some of the most visible and vulnerable. They’re on the streets and can鈥檛 always avoid the National Guard,” Erin Schmieder, who represents Ward 2 for Free D.C., said.
The White House recently announced National Guard troops in the District will be moving into more permanent housing, a decision Schmieder criticized. Trump has extended the deployment of troops in D.C. through January 2029.
鈥淚f there鈥檚 money to pay for the National Guard to be housed here through 2029, there鈥檚 money to house the people who are already in D.C.,鈥� Schmieder said.
The march ended at 13th Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW, where the demonstrators joined a group of people in their 80s who have banged pots and pans almost every night for the past year to protest the surge of law enforcement in the District.
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