WASHINGTON — Truckloads of National Guard troops in riot gear rolled onto the White House grounds Monday evening — as thousands of protesters gathered outside following a weekend of violence.
The large convoy of troops activated to protect the White House perimeter arrived around 5.30 p.m as the nation braced for a seventh night of unrest following the death of George Floyd in police custody — and as a 7 p.m. curfew in Washington, D.C. loomed.
The police presence significantly increased at Lafayette Park next to the White House on Monday evening after rioters and looters torched buildings in downtown D.C. and ransacked high-end stores.
Attorney General William Barr and a handful of aides were seen at the park, assessing the scene behind two rows of police, right before an address by President Trump in the White House Rose Garden shortly after 6 p.m.
National Guard soldiers were forced to defend the executive address on Saturday and Sunday night, after thousands of protesters broke police barricades on Friday and pooled at the White House fence, prompting the Secret Service to whisk Trump to an underground bunker for safety.