Leaders of the yellow church that has been at the centre of the District of Columbia's BlackLivesMatter demonstrations are upset that the city removed protesters and built a fence around their property in the name of safety.
Washington - Leaders of the yellow church that has been at the centre of the District of Columbia's Black Lives Matter demonstrations say they are concerned about how police cleared protesters from the area earlier this week - and upset that the city built a fence around their property in the name of safety.
Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde and the Rev. Robert Fisher, the church rector, say church leaders gave the city permission to put up fencing but believed the entire block was being cordoned off and didn't want to be the only structure outside the barrier. Budde and Fisher also said they were caught off guard by police involvement in clearing the street.
Susana Castillo, a spokeswoman for District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, declined to say Thursday what the city had told church officials. "We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure public health and safety are maintained," Castillo said in a text message. City officials said the demonstrations had become increasingly violent - a man was charged with throwing a molotov cocktail at a police officer Tuesday night, and some officers were hurt. They also said a grill set up by protesters in front of the church was a fire hazard, and Bowser's chief of staff, John Falcicchio, said people were defecating and urinating on the church.
Police stand guard outside St. John's Episcopal Church while protesters take part in an anti-police brutality march at the Black Lives Matter Plaza, as racial inequality protests continue in Washington. Picture: Leah Millis/Reuters "It looks like the only reason that the police are here right now is to guard the church, and I don't know who ordered that because I certainly didn't, our director didn't," she said.
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