Washington: Shared residents facing the National Guard

In front of the large Washington station, Union Station, two white tents attract attention. The “Fuck Trump” insult is in good place, in the middle of other unlikely messages towards the American president.

Installed from the 1^is May, it belongs to Flare (for Liberation and Resistance Everywhere), an anti -fascist association which denounces the danger that Donald Trump represents for democracy and militates for his dismissal. “He wants to be a dictator, an emperor,” says Ironbolt Bruce, a volunteer.

His fears were confirmed by the republican’s unprecedented decision to take control of the municipal police from Washington – Legal act, because the city falls under the federal authority – and to deploy 800 members of the National Guard, a reserve army, in the streets to “restore order, law and public security”. Based on several recent various facts, including the assault of an employee of the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE) formerly led by Elon Musk, he assured that crime in the capital was worse than in Baghdad.

Manifestation in the streets

Since then, uniforms of all kinds have appeared in the streets. In addition to the National Guard, usually used in emergency situations, agents of different federal policies (immigration, antidrogue, FBI, parks, etc.) were mobilized.

The spectacle provokes anger among the Washingtonians, largely democrats. On Wednesday evening, a hundred people gathered near a checkpoint to protest against the presence of agents screaming “get out of our streets”. “It is political, there is no wave of crime,” blows Gabriel Oumar, who has lived for forty years in the District of Columbia (DC), the territory to which Washington belongs. “Violence is declining. There are places where we were not going thirty years ago which are perfectly safe today. These soldiers will not have much to do, ”he predicted.

Down crime

Place of power, the city has long offered another face, that of murder capital (Capital of the murder) due to the wave of homicides of the 80s and 90s, especially in the black districts of the South in the grip of the Crack epidemic. As in other American cities, a peak has been recorded in the wake of the pandemic.

If the number of murders fell in 2024 at its lowest level for thirty years, according to the FBI, the feeling of insecurity persists in some, fueled by burglaries, robberies and other incidents occurring at nightfall, sometimes committed by bands of young people whose images go around social networks. Like this shot drawn, Saturday August 9, during a gathering of teenagers, in the trendy district of Navy Yard. A curfew for those under 17 in groups of more than nine people has been in force throughout the capital since July.

Other episodes drew attention, such as the murder of a 33 -year -old man, killed in Logan Circle, a district renowned, a few hours after Donald Trump’s announcements. “Admittedly, crime drops, but we cannot be satisfied with it,” said Cecilia Monroe, met at Navy Yard. This African-American mother lists the incidents she has heard recently: “Child affected by a lost bullet”, “car diversion” … Democrat, she believes that Donald Trump opponents are wrong to minimize these facts, although relatively rare. “It’s not normal to see such things. Unfortunately, we got used to it. ”

Nuanced democrat mayor

The ambivalence of the inhabitants is found in the words of the mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser. While denouncing Tuesday “the authoritarian push” of the tenant of the White House, the elected Democrat said, in an interview the next day, that the increase in the police could have good to intercept illegal firearms and strengthen security. On Thursday, August 14, the local police chief, the MPD (Metropolitan Police Department), authorized its agents to cooperate with the immigration authorities to control the identity of individuals they have not arrested – a decision which aroused the indignation of the defenders of the rights of migrants. A few hours later, the general prosecutor of the United States, Pam Bondi, canceled the restrictions which prevented the collaboration between the immigration police and the MPD.

If Donald Trump claims to want to “clean” Washington to make a showcase, his detractors denounce a new “militarization” of a democratic, multiracial and cosmopolitan city, two months after sending the National Guard to Los Angeles to galvanize his electoral base following dissensions on the Epstein affair. After promising to disclose a list of customers from this pedophile financier accused of sexual trafficking of minors, he had rear machine, causing strong criticism in his camp. “He wants to divert the attention of this story,” says Ironbolt Bruce, the volunteer of Flare.

Lying in a seat in a park, Alexandre, a Georgian immigrant residing in Washington, feels safe despite the recent burglary of his car. “There is crime as in all major cities. Donald Trump amplifies it. ” He worries about the fate of the 5100 homeless that the billionaire would like to reinstall “far” from the capital. “Rather than putting money in the police, he should invest in housing.”

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