Lafayette Square was cleared of Black Lives Matter protesters so that President Donald Trump could stage a photo op on June 1, 2020. (Photo by AP)
The administration of President Joe Biden has asked a federal judge to toss lawsuits filed against former President Donald Trump and his senior officials over last Junes violent clearing of a peaceful protest near the White House by the US military and police.
Trump and other US officials, including former Attorney General William Barr, should be considered immune from civil lawsuits over police actions taken to "protect a president and to secure his movements," lawyers for the Justice Department argued, according to the Washington Post.
The lawsuits were filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other advocacy groups after a crowd of more than 1,000 largely peaceful demonstrators, protesting the police killing of George Floyd, were forcibly removed from Lafayette Square on June 1, 2020.
The lawsuits sought an order declaring that Trump, Barr, and other officials violated the constitutional rights of the protesters.
Federal agents on horseback used tear gas, batons, and smoke to disperse the protesters from the park near the White House, clearing the way for Trump to stage a photo opportunity at a nearby church.
Images of the violent crackdown circulated on social media, sparking a national backlash against Trumps calls for law enforcement to use "overwhelming force" to put down those he called "thugs" and domestic terrorists.
"Great job done by all. Overwhelming force. Domination," Trump tweeted the day after the square was cleared.
Americas top military official, General Mark Milley, later apologized for walking with Trump from the White House to St. Johns Church for the controversial photo op.
"I should not have been there," said Gen. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a prerecorded video commencement address to National Defense University. "As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from."
The ACLU, Black Lives Matter, other civil liberties groups and individual protesters accuse Trump and his administration officials of driving the June 1 events.
Justice Department lawyers, however, argued this week that the lawsuit should be dismissed because Trump is no longer president and that future violations were unlikely.
"These lawsuits seek to prevent a recurrence of the June 1 events in Lafayette Square," Christopher Hair, a Justice Department attorney, said.
The Lafayette Square protest was part of ongoing anti-racism rallies that swept the US for months following Floyds death in police custody last May.
Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died in Minneapolis after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes as he repeatedly cried out, "I cannot breathe."
That phrase later became a rallying cry for nationwide Black Lives Matter protests that demanded police reforms and justice for Floyd.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/22612
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