D.C. police investigating vandalism of Black churches during pro-Trump
rallies
'It was reminiscent of cross burnings,' church pastor says
The Associated Press � Posted: Dec 13, 2020 4:19 PM ET | Last Updated: 1
hour ago

Riot police officers stand guard near Black Lives Matter Plaza in
Washington, D.C., on Saturday. Police in the U.S. capital said Sunday they
were investigating incidents of vandalism at Black churches. (Erin
Scott/Reuters)

Groups of people tore down a Black Lives Matter banner and sign from
historic Black churches in downtown Washington, D.C., and set one ablaze
as Saturday night clashes between pro-Donald Trump supporters and counter-
demonstrators erupted into violence and arrests.

Police on Sunday said they were investigating the incidents at the Asbury
United Methodist Church and Metropolitan A.M.E. Church as potential hate
crimes, which one religious leader likened to a cross burning.

"This weekend, we saw forces of hate seeking to use destruction and
intimidation to tear us apart," District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser
said Sunday. "We will not let that happen."

A video posted on Twitter showed a group of men appearing to take down a
BLM banner at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church as others in the crowd shout,
"Whose streets? Our streets."

Another video showed people pouring an accelerant on a BLM banner and
setting it ablaze in the street as others cheered and cursed Antifa, a
left-wing, anti-fascist movement in the U.S. Someone walked up about a
minute later and used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames.

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"It pained me especially to see our name, Asbury, in flames," Rev. Dr.
Ianther M. Mills, the senior pastor at Asbury church, said in a statement
on Sunday. "For me it was reminiscent of cross burnings. Seeing this act
on video made me both indigent and determined to fight the evil that has
reared its ugly head."

She added, "We will move forward, undaunted in our assurance that Black
Lives Matter and we are obligated to continue to shout that truth without
ceasing."
A member of the neo-fascist Proud Boys group was detained by law
enforcement in Washington, D.C., on Saturday night. (Brendan
Gutenschwager/@BGOnTheScene/Reuters)

The incidents came following rallies in support of Trump's baseless claims
that he won a second term as U.S. president, which also led to dozens of
arrests, several stabbings and injuries to police officers.

Police in the District of Columbia said they arrested nearly 30 people for
a variety of offences � from assault and weapons possession to resisting
arrests and rioting. The violence broke out after sundown Saturday.

Four men were stabbed at about 10 p.m. after a fight downtown, police
said. At least one suspect, 29 year-old Phillip Johnson of Washington, was
arrested on a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. A police report
obtained by The Associated Press said at least one of the victims
identified Johnson as the person who stabbed him.

Eight police officers were also injured during the demonstrations,
officials said.
Electoral college meets Monday to formally vote

The earlier rallies of mostly unmasked Trump loyalists were intended as a
show of force just two days before the electoral college meets to formally
elect Democrat Joe Biden as the 46th president. Trump, whose term will end
Jan. 20, refuses to concede, while clinging to unfounded claims of fraud
that have been rejected by state and federal courts, and on Friday by the
U.S. Supreme Court.

A pro-Trump demonstration last month, which drew 10,000 to 15,000 people
to the capital, also ended late on a Saturday evening with scattered
clashes between Trump's allies and local activists near Black Lives Matter
Plaza near the White House.
Members of the Proud Boys were among those marching on Saturday to protest
the results of the Nov. 3 U.S. election. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

On Saturday, police took more steps to keep the two sides apart, closing a
wide swath of downtown to traffic and sealing off Black Lives Matter
Plaza.

But while Saturday's rallies, including one on Freedom Plaza downtown,
were smaller than on Nov. 14, they drew a larger contingent of the Proud
Boys, a neo-fascist group known to incite street violence. Some wore
bulletproof vests as they marched through town.
The dying days of Trump's presidency

The group saw its profile raised after Trump in September famously told
them to "stand back and stand by."

After the rallies ended, downtown Washington quickly devolved into crowds
of hundreds of Proud Boys and combined forces of Antifa and local Black
activists � both sides seeking a confrontation in an area flooded with
police officers. As dusk fell, they faced off on opposite sides of a
street, with multiple lines of city police and federal Park Police, some
in riot gear, keeping them separated.