Who ordered those choppers to buzz the protesters?
Top Pentagon officials ordered National Guard helicopters to use what they called “persistent presence” to disperse protests in the capital this week, according to military officials. The loosely worded order prompted a series of low-altitude maneuvers that human rights organizations quickly criticized as a show of force usually reserved for combat zones.
Ryan D. McCarthy, the Army secretary and one of the officials who authorized part of the planning for the helicopters’ mission Monday night, said on Friday that the Army had opened an investigation into the episode.
Two Army National Guard helicopters flew low over the protesters, with the downward blast from their rotor blades sending protesters scurrying for cover and ripping signs from the sides of buildings. The pilots of one of the helicopters have been grounded pending the outcome of the inquiry.
The high-profile episode, after days of protests in Washington — some of which turned violent — was a turning point in the military’s response to unrest in the city. After days of operating on the periphery of the crowds, National Guard forces suddenly became a focus of the controversy over the military’s role in urban law enforcement.
Military officials said that the National Guard’s aggressive approach to crowd control was prompted by a pointed threat from the Pentagon: If the Guard was unable to handle the situation, then active-duty military units, such as a rapid-reaction unit of the 82nd Airborne Division, would be sent into the city.
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The episode, which occurred about three hours after a 7 p.m. curfew in the capital went into effect on Monday, began when a Black Hawk helicopter, assigned to the District of Columbia National Guard, began a low and slow pass over a group of roughly 200 peaceful protesters in the Chinatown neighborhood.
The downward force of the helicopter’s rotor blades snapped a small tree, with debris almost hitting several people. The second helicopter tried a similar maneuver. Roaring overhead, the Lakota, adorned with a red-and-white cross denoting its medical affiliation, hovered over the crowd, staying at rooftop level, blowing debris and sending protesters scattering.
The red cross with white background is a “universally recognized symbol of medical aid and is protected under the Geneva Conventions,” Human Rights Watch said in a report Friday. “Its misuse is prohibited under the conventions and it has no place in a ‘show of force’ or to forcibly disperse protesters.”
“The wind speeds created by a low-hovering helicopter can lift objects and cause serious damage, potentially leading to injury or death,” the report said. “These risks are amplified in congested urban environments, where the consequences would be exceptionally dangerous if something were to go wrong.”
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During the operation Monday night, the helicopters followed the crowd through several well-lit intersections and repeatedly hovered over protesters for close to an hour.
People at the scene expressed their disbelief and fear. One protester, asked by a friend if he wanted to stay out later, responded curtly that he was just “trying not to die.”
There is no formal training for the type of maneuvers conducted Monday night, said one military official with direct knowledge of the episode, so any guidance about “persistent presence” is left to the interpretation of the pilots.
The piece de resistance is that one of the helicopters had Red Cross markings. You can’t make that stuff up.
I’m gathering from watching TV today that they plan to blame the pilots. But even if they took it upon themelves to do it, they were operating in an environment in which their president was screaming “dominate!dominate!dominate!” at the top of his lungs and threatening to wage war in the streets. Is it surprising that they would have thought that battlefield tactics were on the menu?
By coincidence, as Chris Hayes was reporting this story I had a very loud, low military helicopter flying over my house in Santa Monica. My neighbors and I all came out in the street to see what was going on. We hear police and media helicopters overhead all the time, of course. This is the city. But this was different and it was very unnerving.
There was no march. There was no looting. The curfew was in place. And this copter didn’t buzz us as those did in DC. But is was menacing nonetheless. I assume that was the point.