Some 340 officials will be deployed to help police control crowds at metro stations and monitor street closings, the National Guard said in a statement.
Context: Weeks of protests broke out in the capital this summer after George Floyd’s death by police in Minneapolis. Although some of the first protests included looting and damaging local businesses, Bowser never called the National Guard.
Against the mayor’s wishes, Trump ordered Guard personnel to go to the city, where the military faced a reaction for using overly aggressive crowd control tactics against peaceful protesters, including helicopters flying low over the city to create rotor washing, an action used in conflicts abroad.