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As National Guard troops ramped up their presence in the nation’s capital on Thursday, about seven National Guard Humvees and other military vehicles, and around 25 to 30 troops, stood guard outside D.C.’s Union Station.
President Donald Trump’s move to federalize parts of the District of Columbia’s police force began earlier in the week, but troops from the National Guard scaled up their presence Thursday, with several stationed around the National Mall, at metro stations, at Union Station, near a U.S. Park building in Anacostia, D.C., and other places around the nation’s capital.
As of Thursday, 800 National Guard members have been mobilized to Washington, D.C., according to the Defense Department. According to Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson, the troops are unarmed and are supporting other federal law enforcement agencies that have been called up to D.C. to quell the violence there.
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“The scope of support may be adjusted based on the needs of our partners,” Wilson said. “This would be very similar to the [Los Angeles] mission, where we can temporarily detain someone and then turn them over to the law enforcement.”
At Union Station specifically, Fox News Digital counted around 25 to 30 National Guard personnel, all military police, four Humvees and three MATVs early Thursday evening.
Fox News Digital only saw riot batons carried by the troops.
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The other federal law enforcement agencies that the National Guard troops are supporting include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Secret Service.
Operations aimed at reducing crime in the nation’s capital were initially focused on night patrols, but on Thursday they are going to begin patrolling 24/7.
The increased law enforcement presence in D.C. has led to protesters taking the streets, including a handful seen at Union Station Thursday.
On Wednesday night, local media reports indicated around 100 protesters in one Northwest Washington, D.C. neighborhood, where police had set up a vehicle checkpoint, came out to challenge the increased police presence.
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
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