Additional fencing and barriers were installed near the White House on Thursday as security around the complex increases amid ongoing protests in Washington, D.C., following the death of George Floyd.
Officials have erected tall fencing along 17th Street and placed concrete barriers along Pennsylvania Avenue near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The expanded measures come as law enforcement has pushed protesters farther away from the White House in each of the last two days.
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the added barriers or how long they might remain in place.
Law enforcement has used vehicles, military police and fencing in recent days to block pedestrian and vehicle traffic from Pennsylvania Avenue and parts of H Street and 16th Street near the White House.
More fencing going up around the White House complex early this morning pic.twitter.com/VLBRnx1lgz
— Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) June 4, 2020
In addition to the new fencing, which now extends past the EEOB down 17th Street, @abdallahCNN reports that additional concrete barriers have been installed behind existing fencing at 17th and Pennsylvania Ave. NW pic.twitter.com/aoULVLNFF8
— Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) June 4, 2020
The escalation in security measures comes even as protests have been largely peaceful in the last two days in the nation’s capital.
Law enforcement dispersed protesters from Lafayette Square near the White House on Monday a short time before President Trump walked to nearby St. John’s Church for a photo op.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, law enforcement set up barriers and a line of officers farther away from the White House to keep demonstrators at a greater distance.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) expressed concern today about cordoning off the White House grounds.
“I’m also concerned that some of the hardening that they’re doing may be not just temporary,” she said at a press conference. “Keep in mind that that’s the people’s house. It’s a sad commentary that the house and its inhabitants have to be walled off. I think that’s a sad commentary.”
rump has repeatedly called for “law and order” and urged state and local leaders to “dominate” the streets and crack down on protests, which have persisted for more than a week since Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes during an arrest.
Trump retreated to a secure bunker on Friday as protests escalated near the White House, though he claimed it was for an “inspection” of the area.