WASHINGTON — Protesters started fires near the White House as tensions with police mounted during a third straight night of demonstrations held in response to the death of George Floyd at police hands in Minnesota.
One of the fires, which D.C. police said were "intentionally set," was at St. John's Episcopal Church, which is located across Lafayette Park from the White House.
The church says every president beginning with James Madison, "until the present," has attended a service at the church, giving it the nickname, "the church of presidents."
The first services at the church were held in 1816, according to its website.
Demonstrations in the nation's capital continued past an 11 p.m. curfew.
An hour before the 11 p.m. curfew, police fired a major barrage of tear gas stun grenades into the crowd of more than 1,000 people, largely clearing Lafayette Park across the street from the White House and scattering protesters into the street.
Protesters piled up road signs and plastic barriers and lit a fire in the middle of H Street. Some pulled an American flag from a nearby building and threw it into the blaze. Others added branches pulled from trees. A cinder block structure, on the north side of the park, that had bathrooms and a maintenance office, was engulfed in flames.
Several miles north, a separate protest broke out in Northwest D.C., near the Maryland border. The Metropolitan Police Department says there were break-ins at a Target and a shopping center that houses Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue Men’s Store, T.J. Maxx, a movie theater and specialty stores. Police said several individuals have been detained.
This story was updated at 12:32 a.m. with information about the St. John's Episcopal Church fire.