L’autre aspect de cette photo, c’est que Trump a fait gazer les gens qui manifestaient tranquillement devant l’église pour pouvoir faire sa petite séance de bondieuseries.
Text-Only NPR.org : Park Police Tear-Gas Peaceful Protesters To Clear Way For Trump Church Photo-Op
▻https://text.npr.org/s.php?sId=867532070
The church has long been known for its support of social justice causes, and in the hours before the president showed up, clergy and lay volunteers had been ministering to the protesters in the plaza. Protests, some of them violent, had occurred around the church on previous nights, and the church was briefly in danger on Sunday after a fire started in the church basement.
A former St. John’s minister, Gini Gerbasi, was among those attending to the protesters in front of the church when the police moved in.
“We were literally DRIVEN OFF of the St. John’s, Lafayette Square patio with tear gas and concussion grenades and police in full riot gear,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “PEOPLE WERE HURT SO THAT [President Trump] COULD HAVE A PHOTO OPPORTUNITY IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH!!! HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO STEP OVER THE MEDICAL SUPPLIES WE LEFT BEHIND BECAUSE WE WERE BEING TEAR GASSED!!!!”
In a statement Monday evening, the Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry joined in the criticism of Trump’s visit.