DC National Guard activates 250 troops ahead of Chauvin verdict

The D.C. National Guard approved a request from the Metropolitan Police Department to activate personnel as the city prepares for potential protests surrounding the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd last May.

In a statement Monday, the D.C. National Guard announced that it would activate approximately 250 personnel “to support local law enforcement in response to potential First Amendment demonstrations.”

The force is approved to support D.C. and law enforcement “as needed” until May 9.

The guardsmen were specifically requested to “assist police with street closures at multiple intersections in order to provide safety in and around pedestrian areas,” according to the statement.

“At the request of Dr. Rodriguez, Director of the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, the District of Columbia National Guard is in a support role to the Metropolitan Police Department and we are prepared to help provide a safe environment for our fellow citizens to exercise their first amendment right,” Brig. Gen. Aaron R. Dean II, the Adjutant General of the D.C. National Guard, said in a statement.

“This is our home, and we are dedicated to the safety and security of our fellow citizens of the District and their right to safely and peacefully protest,” he continued.

In a letter sent to the D.C. National Guard on April 8, Christopher Rodriguez, the director of the D.C. government’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, requested that the Guard be activated to help the D.C. police manage crowds, block vehicles at traffic posts and provide a “quick response force.”

“The trial is expected to last three to four weeks and there is the potential for First Amendment demonstrations to occur in the District of Columbia in response to the verdict,” Rodriguez wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Hill. “These demonstrations are congruent with the demonstrations that occurred during 2020, where the District saw a large influx of participants and general disorder and criminal activity.”

Many 2020 demonstrations were prompted by Floyd’s death.

On Monday, the prosecution and defense delivered their closing arguments in the murder trial of Chauvin, who was captured on video footage in May kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.

The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Floyd’s death a homicide, but the defense has argued that Floyd’s drug use and underlying health conditions led to his death.