Washington | The 800 national guards are on site

(Washington) The 800 national guards mobilized by Donald Trump to “clean up” Washington, under the terms of the American president, are in the American capital, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

“At this stage, the 800 members of the National Guard have been mobilized (…) and they now find here in our capital,” Kingsley Wilson, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense.

They will “help Washington police and its federal partners responsible for public order ensure the safety of monuments, to carry out safety patrols in the neighborhoods, to protect facilities and federal agents” and to control traffic, she added.

These reserve soldiers “will remain on the spot until public order is restored in the city, as decided by the president” Donald Trump.

The American president announced Monday to maintain order in Washington under the control of his administration and deploy the National Guard. Exceptional measures for this city that he says “invaded by violent gangs” and that he wants to “clean”.

Official statistics, however, show a drop in violent crime in the capital.

Donald Trump had already mobilized the National Guard in California in June, against the advice of the Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, saying that he wanted to restore order in Los Angeles after demonstrations against muscular arrests of immigrants by the Federal Immigration Police (ICE).

Unlike the 50 American states, the municipality of Washington operates within the framework of a particular relationship with the federal state which limits its autonomy.