Trump, his family taken to bunker
protests against the death of George Floyd, an African American man, in police custody continued countrywide for the sixth day, it has been reported that President Donald Trump and his family were briefly taken into an underground bunker at the White House last Friday as demonstrators had surged outside.
The Secret Service escorted Trump, his wife Melania Trump and their son Barron to the Presidential Emergency Operations Centre — as the bunker is called — as officials seemed to have been taken off guard by the number of protesters, the New York Times reported on Sunday.
The last time the bunker is publicly known to have been used was on September 11, 2001, when Vice-president Dick Cheney
was taken there as a plane was feared to be headed for the White House. President George W Bush, who was out of town at the time, was taken there later in the day over false alarm about another plane.
Friday night was the first time protesters had converged around the White House. They had clashed with Secret Service and other law enforcement personnel. Security around the White House has been stepped up extensively with barricades all around to prevent protestors from getting close.
On Sunday, protesters clashed with the police — chanting “You’re the threat” and other slogans — and vandalized and defaced public and private properties around the area.
Among those destroyed was the Oval Room, an iconic restaurant, a short distance from the White House.