WASHINGTON DC (31 MAY 2021) Read the full article A year later, DC church leader looks back on the clearing of Lafayette Square
Just days before the anniversary of the clearing of the protesters, a federal judge heard arguments on May 28 about dismissing lawsuits filed against former President Donald Trump and his administration. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers for the former administration said Trump has immunity from litigation because they were performing their duties to create a secure space for Trump. The American Civil Liberties Union argues the former administration violated the constitutional rights of protesters.
“These lawsuits seek to prevent a recurrence of the June 1st events in Lafayette Square,” said Justice Department attorney Christopher Hair. “The change in administration” to Democrat Joe Biden makes their claims moot, he said. “Great job done by all. Overwhelming force. Domination,” Trump wrote the day after the square was cleared. The president also shared a letter on Twitter that referred to the protesters as “terrorists.”
Local DC and federal law enforcement cleared St. John’s Episcopal Church on H Street Northwest with the use of chemical irritants, smoke canisters and flash bangs, so that then-President Donald Trump could appeared in front of St. John’s Parish House, posing for cameras with a Bible. The disgusting sacrilege included the church billboard as part of the backdrop.
“It still feels surreal to me,” recalled Rev. Robert Fisher, church rector at St. John’s Episcopal on H Street Northwest, where the scene played out on the evening of June 1, 2020, just days after the death of George Floyd. “I could not believe what was taking place.”
Fisher said there’s still a lot of damage left to repair to the church’s nursery room and the building on a whole, totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We happened to be behind him but there was no connection,” Fisher said. “There was no reaching out to us and no conversation before, during or after.”
