Religious Leaders Say They Were Tear-Gassed For Trump's Church Photo-Op
President Donald Trump on Monday reportedly used federal police to tear-gas Christian faith leaders, along with hundreds of peaceful protesters gathered to demand an end to police brutality against Black Americans.
Clergy were passing out water and snacks to protesters in front of St. John’s Church, Lafayette Square, an Episcopal parish in Washington, DC, throughout the afternoon ― before law enforcement officials in riot gear reportedly fired tear gas and flash-bangs to disperse the crowd so that Trump could walk to the church for a photo-op. Lafayette Square is a park that lies directly north of the White House.
Rev. Gini Gerbasi, rector of a different St. John’s Episcopal Church in the city, told HuffPost that she and seminarian Julia Joyce Domenick were tear-gassed and driven off of church property by police.
“The irony, the sickening, sacrilegious irony is that we were being driven off in order for a photo opportunity to show the president and his commitment to religion ideas,” Gerbasi said. “It’s grotesque and offensive and sacrilegious.”
She said she was acting out her religious beliefs by serving protesters at the church and that her religious freedom was violated when she was forced off church property by tear gas.
US Secret Service agents, Park Police and National Guardsmen participated in the clearing of Lafayette Square, according to The Associated Press. For “operational security reasons,” the Secret Service declined to answer HuffPost’s questions about how and why the faith leaders were cleared from church property. A National Guard Bureau spokesman also declined to answer specifics about the dispersal.
The US Park Police did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment on whether clergy were tear-gassed and driven from church property.
Domenick also wrote a Facebook post Monday night, in which she described how she was feeling: “Angry. Disbelief. Sick. In Pain.” She said she was at St. John’s Church with several...
