Free DC rally held to protest Trump executive order targeting District

WASHINGTON - A protest was held Friday by a number of anti-Trump groups, all opposed to an executive order the president said he would sign to "beautify" D.C. and make it safer. 

Those against the order say they want D.C. to maintain its autonomy and they do not want the federal government forcing changes on the city. 

What is Trump's executive order targeting D.C.? 

What we know:

Trump claims that the order is aimed at enhancing public safety in Washington, D.C. The White House says it wants to order D.C. to make the city safer and more beautiful — cutting down on gun crime, clearing out homeless camps and cracking down on minor crimes like graffiti. D.C. officials are in the process of clearing some homeless camps and say they are working to find permanent housing for the people living there.

But demonstrators say the Trump administration is out of touch with the people of D.C., who do want to see crime rates go down but want to maintain independence from the federal government. 

"Not Elon or Trump have been into one community in D.C. The closest they've been is Capitol Hill," activist Nee Nee Taylor said. "I can promise you they have not been east of the river where we have resilient Black people, resilient communities full of joy and love. They don't show that on TV but I live it. I live it."

Why was there a protest?

What they're saying:

Activist group Free DC was one of the organizers of Friday's rally. They partnered with Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, a self-described Black-led community defense hub, to protest the criticisms leveled at the city by Trump. Many say they’re behind cleaning up the streets but they want it done within the hands of D.C. leaders and residents.

"I would love nothing more than to see D.C. cleaned up. I had no idea that our nation's capital was so riddled with crime and homicides. I had no idea living in my bubble here in upstate New York," said Janet Realbuto, whose son was murdered in D.C. "Walking down the street in the nation’s capital you should not have to worry that somebody's going to come up and shoot you."

Realbuto's 23-year-old son, Ryan, was shot and killed on a D.C. street in January 2023. His killer has still not been caught. She hopes that there is a way people can come together to solve the issues facing the District and says leaders need to become more unified.

"I am all for making it safer but I think that we need, politically, to be not so divided. We need our political leaders to come together from both sides and try to solve problems and stop pointing the finger of ‘it’s this and it's that,' and 'it's this amendment and it's that.' These are people's lives. There are human beings that have made a difference that contribute to society that are just wiped out in one split second because of a bullet," Realbuto said.

What's next:

The Free DC rally organizers say today was their first but won't be their last attempt to stand up for D.C. in the face of the Trump White House.

"The people of D.C. have a different aesthetic than Donald Trump. So if he's saying he wants to make DC beautiful, we say we don't want that kind of beautiful," activist Keya Chatterijee said during the rally. "We're already beautiful."