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

Capitol, the largely peaceful protesters included high schoolers and stay-at-home moms, young parents and toddlers, elderly couples and large families.

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.

“You disgrace the Constitution,” someone screamed at federal forces Tuesday evening.

At the outset of Tuesday’s protests, hundreds of demonstrators found a newly erected black chain-link fence around Lafayette Square, where protesters were removed Monday evening shortly before President Trump walked through the area on his way to St.

Outside the fence, protesters knelt with fists and signs raised, and chanted at a small cluster of federal police in the middle of the park.

The closed park was just one of many signs of tightening by federal forces.

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

In Richmond, the mayor apologized after police tear-gassed peaceful protesters.

And in Philadelphia, the mayor criticized police officers who posed for photos with a group of white vigilantes wielding baseball bats and shovels.

Esper asked state National Guards to send in some of their troops to supplement the local and federal police and the D.C.

Dozens of federal forces lined the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

At about 4:40 p.m., a line of several dozen officers wearing camouflage and wielding shields that read “military police” assembled about 20 feet away from the fence on the east side of Lafayette Square.

Episcopal priest describes being gassed and overrun by police at Lafayette Square church.

They had a lot to fear Tuesday afternoon as they stood amid a crowd of at least 1,000 on H Street NW, north of Lafayette Square.

At about 4 p.m., protesters were pepper-sprayed near the White House.

As Gary Murray, 15, stood in front of the White House looking at a line of armed police guards, he grew angrier and angrier.

Also near the White House, police pulled a woman from her car, sparking moments of chaos.

Tsehai was pulled behind a black chain-link fence, which protesters started banging against before police deployed spray, sending them fleeing.

More than four hours after curfew, hundreds of protesters roamed through several neighborhoods, passing huge lines of federal and local police with no confrontations or arrests, a far cry from Monday when the curfew was strictly enforced.

But the group converged back in front of Lafayette Square at about 12:45 a.m.

A small band of them again shook the fence and hurled water bottles, prompting another response by the throng of federal officers guarding the park.

Arwa Shobaki and Nidal Betare decided to come with their 6-year-old daughter as they watched CNN footage of peaceful protesters outside the White House being forcibly removed Monday.

curfew — in place for a second night — hundreds of protesters split off from Lafayette Square and marched up 14th Street NW, past armored military vehicles and soldiers in fatigues who lined the road.

Barr personally ordered removal of protesters near White House