A standoff with Washington, D.C., rioters Saturday night led to one officer being hospitalized and five arrests, The Washington Post reported.
The violence aimed at police came from a racial justice march toward the White House, where police in riot gear at Black Lives Matter Plaza used "flash-bangs and chemical spray" to turn away the 175 demonstrators, per the report.
Police moved in on the protesters because projectiles were being thrown at them, two city officials told the Post.
"Our officers have an obligation to act and keep our city safe," a source told the Post.
The D.C. police union tweeted Sunday morning:
"One of our members was transported to the hospital last night with vision loss after a rioter directed a laser into his eye. This is the sixth officer hospitalized since Thursday night."
Josiah Pope, 23, a professional basketball player in Europe, came face to face with a protester in his neighborhood Saturday night.
"My thing is, I'm a Black man from Washington, D.C.," Pope told the Post. "I don't mind the protesting. I was out there.
"You don't come down here burning down sh** and breaking sh** in the name of Black Lives Matter. There's a difference between peacefully protesting . . . and rioting and vandalizing."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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