Washington, DC – The news was met with jeers.United States President Donald Trump on Monday invoked a “crime emergency” in the US capital, allowing his Department of Justice to take control of Washington, DC’s local law enforcement. He simultaneously announced the Pentagon would deploy US National Guard forces to the city of more than 700,000.Gathered just blocks away, with the White House looming in the background, protesters erupted in a chorus of “boos”.The Pentagon later said 800 soldiers were activated on Monday, with 100-200 of them supporting law enforcement.Trump’s latest move, said Keya Chatterjee, the executive director of Free DC, was not just another salvo against the long marginalised rights of the residents of the city, but a “major escalation”.“This goes beyond the sort of words people have been using, like ‘unprecedented and ‘unusual,’” said Chatterjee, whose group advocates for DC self-determination.“This is just authoritarianism,” she told Al Jazeera, over the chants from the crowd.‘Represent ourselves’The rights of the hundreds of thousands of residents of Washington, DC have been the subject of debate since it was established by Congress in 1790 with land from Maryland and Virginia.The district continues to fall under the direct auspices of the federal government, having never been granted statehood. However, it maintains a level of local autonomy per the Home Rule Act of 1973, which allows residents to elect some local officials. Congress stil …
