The U.S. Park Police who cleared Lafayette Square to allow President Donald Trump to walk from the White House to St. John’s Church for a photo op claimed that they only acted when they were pelted with projectiles. They also denied using tear gas, but a pepper agent has similar effects as tear gas. Journalists at the scene saw no evidence of projectiles. (Deadline, June 2, 2020, by Ted Johnson)
St. John’s Church officials were incensed at Trump’s actions as they were ministering to those assembled in the square when the police suddenly acted to clear the area. They had not been informed that Trump was planning to conduct a photo op. (NPR, June 1, 2020, by Tom Guelten)
Law professor Garrett Epps in The Atlantic, June 2, 2020, wrote that the Lafayette Square incident was an assault on the right of assembly, a right that the First Congress valued. The British used force to disperse crowds assembled to voice grievances. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled later that peaceful assembly in public streets and parks was an inviolable right of citizens. “The people own the streets,” wrote Epps “—not the police, not the military, and not Donald Trump. And regulation of their use of the streets must be conducted with the greatest care, recognizing that occasional inconvenience caused by demonstrations is the price America pays for free government. The fact that some demonstrations are violent cannot be used to strip all Americans of their right to assemble.”
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