White House Has ‘No Regrets’ About Tear-gassing Peaceful Protesters

By Staff, Agencies

The administration of US President Donald Trump said there are “no regrets” about the decision of using tear gas against peaceful demonstrators from outside the White House last week.

The demonstrators were protesting at Lafayette Square outside the White House against police violence and systemic racism sparked by the recent police killing of unarmed, handcuffed African-American man George Floyd.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Monday night that neither Trump nor anybody inside his administration had regrets about police’s actions against protesters.

“No there’s no regrets on the part of this White House because look I’d note that many of those decisions were not made here within the White House,” McEnany said.

She said that Attorney General William Barr had decided to have police clear demonstrators from Lafayette Square.

“I’d note that many of those decisions were not made here within the White House. It was Barr who made the decision to move the perimeter. Monday night Park Police had also made that decision independently when they saw all the violence in Lafayette Square,” she said.

McEnany claimed police issued three warnings before using chemical agents to clear protesters from the park and that demonstrators hurled projectiles at law enforcement officers.

“That was unacceptable. Park Police acted as they felt they needed to at that time in response,” McEnany said. “We stand by those actions.”

That day Trump had threatened to “dominate the streets” by deploying troops, just before police tear-gassed protesters outside the White House.

And Trump said that he believed the situation was “handled very well.”

"I went there because somebody suggested it was a good idea, and I thought it was a great idea, and it was a great idea,” Trump said on Wednesday.

The protesters were driven out of Lafayette Square coughing and limping, with their eyes burning amid clouds of smoke.

But the Trump administration then had insisted federal police did not use tear gas on the crowd.