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City leaders and community organizations gathered on Saturday in Washington, D.C., for Free DC's "One Year In, End the D.C. Occupation," calling for an end to the federal deployment in Washington and to attacks on the community.
The protest marked one year since U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Aug. 11, 2025, that he was launching a federal law enforcement surge in the capital aimed at fighting crime.
Trump invoked a section of the Home Rule Act to place the Metropolitan Police Department under federal authority, pledging at a press conference to "rescue" a city he described as a crime-ridden place full of "squalor, bedlam, and worse."
Federal officers, the D.C. National Guard and National Guard units from other states were deployed to the streets of the capital.
What began as a deployment of 800 troops has since grown to 4,600 National Guard members, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $1 billion.
As of August 4, troops from D.C. and 24 states and territories were still on the ground, joined by an undisclosed number of federal law enforcement officers operating with a lower profile. Some are due to be pulled out by the end of the summer.
Initially presented as a temporary mission, the deployment has been extended through January 2029.
"I don't see exactly what it is that they are protecting me from, because I live in a very nice touristy part of town," a protester told the local outlet WTOP's Steve Karesh. "I don't see any change. If anything else, I hate feeling unsafe because now there are troops on the street."
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