Cellphone video of clash between protesters and police at Lafayette Square park

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A digital video showing clashes between protesters and police officers at Lafayette Square park in Washington, DC, on June 1, 2020, following the death of George Floyd. The video was captured with an iPhone X cellphone and contains color and sound. In the opening frame, protesters can be seen at the intersection of H Street and 16th Street NW, separated from St. John's Episcopal Church by a line of U.S. Park Police officers. Some of the officers are on horseback and wear light blue shirts and light blue helmets. Other officers on foot, standing in front of the ones on horseback, wear darker uniforms and hold circular shields that have the word [POLICE] printed on them in large white uppercase letters. A third group of law enforcement officers, including several from the US Military Police Corps, can be seen in Lafayette Square park, to the far right. They wear camouflage uniforms and hold large cylindrical shields. On the opposite side of the street, the ground-floor windows of the Hays-Adams hotel are covered with ply board. Many of the people in the crowd carry placards, some are kneeling, while others can be seen taking photographs and videos with cellphones and digital cameras. As the person holding the camera moves slightly to the left, a crying protester is revealed. He claims an officer stole his skateboard, laughed about it, and then pushed him. At 00:00:24, the officers holding circular shields charge the protesters. The crowd disperses and a few individuals are trampled in the commotion. At 00:00:37 an explosion can be heard and at 00:00:45 another explosion can be seen. Above the shouting and explosions someone can be heard saying, "They're shooting rubber bullets." The person holding the camera begins running, revealing a pile of food supplies on the ground just before the video comes to an end.

Catalog date

June 1, 2020

Recorded places

Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America

Recorded subjects

African American; Activism; Local and regional; Police brutality; Race relations

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