Banging on fences erected near the White House and marching through the city to the U.S.

But tensions also flared at multiple flash points during the day, as protesters faced an even larger contingent of federal law enforcement authorities than on Monday.

• Many protesters said they came out because of what happened Monday, when hundreds of peaceful demonstrators were forcefully cleared from Lafayette Square — one of the country’s most symbolic places of protest — by federal forces at the behest of Attorney General William P.

Armored vehicles blocked streets around the White House as scores of federal law enforcement officers patrolled on foot.

police force, ratcheting up tensions between the White House and the District over how much force should be used to quell protests that have sometimes turned volatile.

In the end, the federal government did not follow through but did invoke its broad powers over the District to send the National Guard onto the streets, along with military helicopters that flew over the city and menaced demonstrators, which the police chief said he “did not find helpful.”.

The District of Columbia is a federal enclave governed by a mayor and city council, but the federal law granting self-governance allows the president to take control of local police officers in certain emergency situations.

On Monday night, as federal law enforcement officers fired rubber bullets and chemical gas at protesters outside the White House, President Trump stood in the Rose Garden and issued a threat.

If the nation’s governors don’t call up National Guard troops to “dominate the streets,” Trump said, “I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.” After Trump made the threat, three words began trending on Twitter: the Insurrection Act.

Originally signed by Thomas Jefferson and used by him a year later, it gives Trump the power to act unilaterally: “Whenever the President considers unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws … in any State … he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.”.

Ebony “Chantelle” Sherman became worried when other protesters started chucking water bottles at the police and military line in Lafayette Square.

It was about 12:10 a.m., hours after the city curfew had gone into effect, and Sherman, an office worker who lives in the District, said she feared the projectiles might provoke a violent response against her and other demonstrators.

I don't think they realize what they're up against,” Sherman said.

She said she wore them to the protests to protect her from the pepper spray or other crowd-control irritants that law enforcement has used, and the flames singed the fabric.

Meanwhile, several law enforcement officers hustled toward the same spot, as if a confrontation might occur.

“I've been watching the news, and I've been seeing the police being really violent with us,” Sherman said.

And we should,” Sherman said.

The spectacle, which took place after authorities forcibly removed seemingly peaceful protesters from an area near the White House, highlighted Trump’s complex and at times openly transactional relationship with religion.

curfew as they marched from the White House on Monday night to protest the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd.

A volley of pepper spray and chemical projectiles sent the group scrambling for cover as police charged forward from both sides, grabbing some protesters and dragging them away