DC Police Prepare for Protests As
NATO Summit Returns to DC after 25 Years
Carl Willis / WILA ABC
WASHINGTON (July 6, 2024) — The barricades are on hand all around the Washington Convention Center. They are set to be installed ahead of the NATO Summit that is back in DC for the first time in 25 years.
On Friday night, protestors were already arriving in the District.
Police are preparing for any unrest, with the DC police chief saying the force will promote First Amendment activities and free speech, but would not tolerate any violence.
7News spoke with several organizations in town to protest as they met at Busboys & Poets on K Street.
“We do need defense, but we don’t need super defense, which is what this is all about,” said Ann Wright with Veterans for Peace.
Wright is a retired US Army colonel and a former US Diplomat who resigned 21 years ago in opposition to the war in Iraq.
She is part of the group that took part in a 700-mile walk from Maine to DC over 60 days to “Say No to NATO.”
“It’s we the veterans who see what our military does and are suffering from it, actually,” she said.
“The level of PTSD and suicides is horrendous because war does that to people. So, we as veterans say no more war.”
NATO is set to celebrate what it calls: 75 years of the most successful alliance in history.
According to the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, there’s a clear agenda for the summit.
Who are the unmarked police at DC protests? The Feds won’t say.
“We’ll increase our support to Ukraine for the long haul, reinforce collective defense, and deepen global partnerships,” said Stoltenberg. “Our most urgent task at the summit will be support to Ukraine.”
As the organization hails its work around the world, protestors call it a law-breaking, destabilizing force.
“The response of more NATO is a vicious cycle that gets more Russian militarism, and more NATO militarism, and more Russian militarism,” said David Swanson, the Executive Director of World Beyond War. “We need to pursue a different path.”
With concern surrounding safety ahead of the summit and expected protests Wright insisted that is the wrong focus.
“They won’t be getting out of hand from our point of view,” said Wright. “We are peaceful people, we don’t riot. We protest. The things that get out of hand are our US militaries and our US politicians who send our US militaries into places they shouldn’t be. That’s what’s really getting out of hand.”
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