Days after 235 people were charged with felony rioting on Inauguration Day, the D.C. police chief says arrests may be ongoing.
The group was charged on Saturday after protesters smashed the windows of an emergency vehicle and several businesses, and set fire to a limousine. Six police officers were hurt, with one falling unconscious after he was hit in the head.
Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham said Monday that members of the force were still trying to identify some of the violent protesters and vandals.
"To the extent that we can identify people on our own, we will. We'll present information to the U.S. attorney for warrants, and if we're unable to identify people, then we're probably going to make those images public to see if the public can help us identify who they were," he said.
One person already has been identified from video and was charged with assaulting an officer.
A group of about 50 of the people who were arrested said in a lawsuit filed Friday that they were innocent observers who were improperly swept up in the group.
"They arrested everyone in a single location, including reporters, lawyers, law students and non-riotous protesters," lawyer Mark Goldstone said.
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Newsham said he was unable to speak about the pending lawsuit.
"My intent is not to get into a back and forth with any particular group," he said. "My intent is to let people know that when you come to Washington, D.C. and you break the law, that the Metropolitan Police Department is gonna safely and respectfully take you into custody, and then we’ll let the judicial process play out from there."
The group that was arrested consisted of 230 adults and five juveniles. Only about a dozen of the people were D.C. residents, Newsham said. According to a review of court paperwork by The Associated Press, the average age of those arrested Friday was 27, though three were over 55. About a third were women.
The police chief stressed that the vast majority of protesters on Inauguration Day and participants in the Women's March on Washington the following day were peaceful.
The annual March for Life anti-abortion demonstration will be held Friday. D.C. police are ready for any protests that may occur there, Newsham said.
