Washington spent the weekend in open resistance to federal intervention in the city’s police force. Rallies filled the streets, residents documented arrests, and Mayor Muriel Bowser sharpened her rhetoric against the Trump administration’s actions.
Tensions escalated on August 15, when District Attorney Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit seeking to block federal interference in policing. A judge urged compromise, and the White House relented: MPD chief Pamela Smith retains authority over 3,100 officers, while DEA head Terry Cole, appointed “emergency police commissioner,” does not yet have the power to issue orders.
Bowser, previously restrained, shifted to stronger language. She called Trump’s initiative “an authoritarian power grab” and wrote on her personal X account: “Using police against American citizens on American soil is #UnAmerican.”
Protests under the slogan “Trump must go” spread across the city from Dupont Circle to the White House. Social media circulated footage of arrests and of eerily empty morning streets in Columbia Heights, normally a bustling commercial district.
National Guard deployed on the National Mall.
On Saturday morning, according to the Washington Post, masked federal agents—one wearing an ICE badge—tackled a moped rider on 14th Street. A DC police spokesperson told Axios that local officers were not involved in the arrest.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified that the man detained was an undocumented immigrant with “suspected gang ties” who already had a deportation order. She said he resisted arrest, during which one law enforcement officer sustained a concussion.
ICE and other federal agents detain a delivery driver at Union Station.
The standoff in Washington gained new momentum after the arrest of activist Afeni Evans for fare evasion on the Metro. According to the group Free DC, she was pepper-sprayed during the arrest. The incident sparked protests outside the city courthouse, where Evans was soon released to cheers from supporters.
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DC police told Axios they were not involved in the arrest. Metro Transit Police did not respond to a request for comment. According to official White House figures, by Saturday evening the number of people detained in the sweeping campaign had exceeded 300. Among them were 135 undocumented immigrants. In addition, 44 homeless encampments were cleared and removed from federal property, the US Park Police reported.
Amid the turmoil, the city carried on with everyday life: the Nationals took the field, and thousands celebrated Chuck Brown Day. But the protest mood surfaced even there: at a Spirit women’s soccer match, chants of “Free DC!” rang out, while sidewalks in the immigrant neighborhood of Mount Pleasant were covered with chalk messages of support for the resistance.
A protester waves a baguette while passing National Guard troops—a nod to the “guy with a sandwich” internet meme.
An unusual symbol of the protests was the “sandwich man”—a former Justice Department employee arrested after throwing a sandwich toward federal agents. Graffiti in a Banksy-like style appeared in Adams Morgan in his support, while demonstrators took to the streets carrying baguette-shaped placards and actual loaves of bread.
Meanwhile, authorities from Republican-led states—from West Virginia to South Carolina—pledged to send up to 700 additional National Guard troops to the capital, on top of the 800 already deployed. A White House spokesperson said the guardsmen are still not taking part in arrests but may now be armed. Their mission, the official stressed, is to “protect federal facilities, ensure safe conditions for police operations, and deter crime through visible presence.”
In a letter to residents sent Friday evening, Mayor Muriel Bowser acknowledged the city was facing a “crisis” and thanked Washingtonians for their unity. “I am confident that if we stand together, we will get through this. We will show the entire nation what it means to fight for American democracy—even when we do not have full access to it,” she wrote.