Protest In Alexandria Calls For Homeland Security Accountability

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Under the Shutdown DC banner, demonstrators gathered near Alexandria Sunday morning for a march against federal government intervention in protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. This weekend federal agents reportedly used tear gas and flash bangs in Portland, Oregon, as people protested around the city's courthouse.

In Alexandria a group marched to the home of Chad Wolf, acting secretary of homeland security.

Protesters called for removal of Department of Homeland Security personnel from cities around the country, where President Donald Trump pledged to send agents in the wake of violence.

Earlier this month, the president sent border patrol agents to Portland, where protesters have been arrested and taken in unmarked vans by personnel who have not identified themselves as federal law enforcement, The New York Times reported.

Chants from the group of about 30 protesters in Alexandria included: "We're not afraid of the big bad wolf," according to The Washington Post, a play on the homeland security secretary's name.

Grassroots Alexandria leader Jonathan Krall called the actions of the federal government "worrisome" and an "escalation," The Post reported.

"There shouldn't be people picked up without documentation of what's going on," Krall, who attended Sunday's rally in Alexandria, told WTOP.

Trump said his plan — Operation Legend — involves "a surge of federal law enforcement into American communities plagued by violent crime," such as Chicago, Atlanta and Baltimore, among others.

"In recent weeks, there has been a radical movement to defund, dismantle, and dissolve our police departments. Extreme politicians have joined this anti-police crusade and relentlessly vilified our law enforcement heroes," Trump said at a news conference this week. "The effort to shut down policing in their own communities has led to a shocking explosion of shootings, killings, murders and heinous crimes of violence. This bloodshed must end. This bloodshed will end."

Trump said he sent federal agents to Portland, Oregon, to halt the unrest but state and local officials say they are making the situation worse, the Associated Press reports. This month 60 people have been arrested during protests near the Portland courthouse, according to the AP.

In addition to calling for homeland security agents to be removed, the Shutdown DC group wants ICE abolished and all those who had been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to be freed.

Related:

• Portland Mayor To Trump: Get Troops Out Of Our City
• Trump Sending Federal Agents To Chicago, Albuquerque