Several dozen U.S. Secret Service agents were hospitalized Sunday night as protesters threw bottles, Molotov cocktails, and other objects at them and with fires burning in and around Lafayette Square across from the White House.
Among the nationwide protests and riots sparked by the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis was one in the nation's capital, which saw several fires lit Sunday evening and hundreds of law enforcement officers and agents driving back protesters with tear gas.
According to Fox News, more than 50 members of the Secret Service were taken to the hospital with injuries.
Live video from the scene showed a large group of protesters chanting and setting fires. Lafayette Square is a park that sits across from the North Lawn of the White House. One blaze was burning in a building that houses bathrooms and an office, while another was in the middle of H Street.
Yet another blaze was set in historic St. John's Episcopal Church, although the fire was contained to a basement area. Every president since James Madison has attended services at the church.
Friday night, the Secret Service was so concerned about President Donald Trump's safety that agents took him down to a fortified bunker under the White House as protesters descended on the area. It's unclear where Trump was Sunday night.
Fox News reported that agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration joined the Secret Service, Park Police, and the Metropolitan Police as protests intensified. All 1,200 members of the D.C. National Guard were also called up.
A short time before a 11 p.m. curfew in the nation's capital, law enforcement officers and agents could be seen driving protesters out of Lafayette Square by advancing toward them in riot gear and deploying tear gas.
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