Bowser Joins Protesters, Pushes Back at Trump (photos)
By • June 7, 2020 0 569
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser exhorted protesters along 16th Street at what is now Black Lives Matter Plaza, next to Lafayette Square, on Saturday afternoon, June 6 — and pushed back at criticism by President Donald Trump, who called her “incompetent.”
Bowser strolled through the earnest and sometimes festive crowd near the St. Regis hotel and St. John’s Church. She spoke briefly at the corner of 16th and Eye Streets NW, thanking people for wearing face coverings and saying that her daughter should have a chance to run for Senate in the new state of D.C. She added that voters should be sure to vote this year. “Today, we say no,” she said. “In November, we say next.”
Elsewhere, at the Lincoln Memorial and along Pennsylvania Avenue, protesters also assembled to honor the memory of George Floyd and against police brutality.
On June 5, Bowser and the D.C. government made their pro-protest position clear with a huge street mural, painted in yellow on 16th Street. Flowing down toward H Street, it reads: BLACK LIVES MATTER. At that time, the H Street intersection was renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza.
Protests along 16th Street with the White House in the distance June 6. Photo by Robert Devaney.
Protester in front of the St. Regis on June 6. Photo by Robert Devaney.
Protesters on 16th Street June 6. Photo by Robert Devaney.
Mayor Bowser on 16th Street June 6. Photo by Robert Devaney.
Mayor Bowser walks along 16th Street with the yellow lettering of “Black Lives Matter” beneath. Photo by Robert Devaney.
Mayor Bowser at 16th & K Streets NW June 6. Photo by Robert Devaney.
The Lincoln Memorial on June 6. Photo by Bill Starrels.
At the steps of the Lincoln Memorial June 6. Photo by Bill Starrels.
At the steps of the Lincoln Memorial June 6. Photo by Bill Starrels.
At the Lincoln Memorial, looking toward the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument, June 6. Photo by Bill Starrels.
