The memorial converting the White House fence erected last week

A White House fence, erected after the tear-gassing of a Black Lives Matter gathering last Monday, has been turned into a memorial to George Floyd and other African Americans who lost their lives at the hands of police.

The killing of Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis sparked rallies which are entering their third week. On Sunday, there were peaceful marches across the US, including in New York City as a curfew was lifted.

See EA on talkRADIO Special: The George Floyd Protests and the Way Forward in the US and UK

Last Monday, Attorney General William Barr ordered law enforcement to disperse people in Lafayette Park, so Donald Trump — who had just threatened deployment of the US Army against the rallies — could walk from the White House across the street to St. John’s Church and hold up a Bible.

The photo opportunity backfired. The Bishop of Washington and other religious leaders denounced Trump’s use of the church as a backdrop.

Former Defense Secretary Gen. Jim Mattis and former White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly challenged Trump as divisive. The current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mike Milley, circulated a memo to commanders upholding the right to peaceful protest. On Sunday, Gen. Colin Powell, a former Defense Secretary and National Security Advisor, also criticized Trump’s aggressive rhetoric and said he would vote for former Vice President Joe Biden in November’s Presidential election.

But Trump’s inner circle proceeded with the show of erecting a high fence outside the White House, hoping to put people at a distance.

People responded this weekend with the memorial.

“Let’s Make History!”

In New York City, thousands of people gathered in largely-jubilant rallies in several locations under sunny sides. Slogans included “Let’s make history!”

Mayor Bill de Blasio lifted the citywide curfew ordered last week, pledging for the first time to redirect some of the city’s police funding to social services. On Monday, the first lifting of Coronavirus restrictions is being implemented.

There were no reports of violence, as police pulled back from any challenge to the marches and stopped trailing the rallies with vehicles.

Police in riot gear were deployed at Trump Tower in central Manhattan. Protesters paused to chant, “Vote him out!”, and to kneel with the cry, “Black Lives Matter”.

Marchers dance through Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Sunday

Marchers dance through Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Sunday. (Simbarashe Cha/New York Times)

In Minneapolis, nine of 12 City Council members pledged to replace the police department with a new system of public safety. Theother members said they would consider the proposal.

The pledge “signals a strong and clear direction about where this is going,” said Councilwoman Alondra Cano, the chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee.

The most serious incident of the day was in Seattle, Washington, where a man drove his car through a crowd of protesters and shot a 27-year-old demonstrator, who is in hospital in stable condition.

Trump and Barr Fall Back on Lies

Having provoked confrontation with threats of shooting, “vicious dogs”, and “ominous weapons”, Trump tried to claim credit on Sunday with false claims. He said he had ordered the National Guard out of Washington DC, days after Defense Secretary Mark Esper — embarrassed by being alongside Trump on last Monday’s walk — said US troops would be removed and the city’s mayor Muriel Bowser had curbed the Guard’s presence as she lifted curfew.

Attorney General Barr spent Sunday trying to cover up his order that led to the tear-gassing in Lafayette Square. He lied that people in the park — chanting, reading, singing, and painting as Trump spoke outside the White House — were engaged in “violent riots” and throwing “projectiles” at police.

Barr also lied that no tear gas was used. Police initially put out a similar statement, but later acknowledged — after a statement by the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention — that the pepper spray which they used is a chemical gas.

The Attorney General buried Trump’s declaration that he would deploy the US Army. Defying reports that Trump prepared orders for 10,000 personnel on the strets, Barr said, “The President never asked or suggested that we needed to deploy regular troops at that point,”