Law enforcement is again tightening security around the White House with new fencing, fortifying the complex in the aftermath of protests that turned violent in the nation’s capital over the weekend, Fox News informed.
On Thursday morning, higher fencing was being installed around the White House. A Secret Service source told Fox News the fencing is standard anti-riot fencing and ranges from seven feet to more than nine feet high.
The source told Fox News that there are several agencies securing the White House area, including the Secret Service, D.C. Metropolitan Police, and Park Police, and the new fencing is part of a “joint effort.”
Earlier this week, the Secret Service installed some anti-rioting fences around the White House and implemented road closures. The new fencing Thursday comes after protesters were shaking the fence late Wednesday and hurling bottles and other objects over it.
On Tuesday, a nearly eight-foot-high chain-link fence was installed along the perimeter of Lafayette Square, preventing people from being able to even come close to Lafayette Park itself. The installment there came after waist-high barricades that were in place Monday proved to be ineffective.
Riots escalated in Washington, D.C., and across the country over the weekend and earlier this week in response to Minneapolis man George Floyd’s death in police custody last week.
U.S. Marshals and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents were deployed into the streets of D.C. to help beef up security alongside local police, Secret Service and Homeland Security agents at the direction of the Justice Department.
Additionally, the entire Washington, D.C. National Guard was being called in to help with the response to protests outside the White House and elsewhere in the nation’s capital, according to two Defense Department officials.
Sunday night, as authorities clashed with demonstrators for the third straight night, the parish house connected to the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church across the street from the White House was set on fire.
But Monday night proved to be more peaceful, after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser imposed a curfew of 7 p.m. for that night.
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