well it's protest can you continue across the United States president Trump
has ordered National Guard troops to start withdrawing from the nation's
capital we're joined now by North America correspondent Catherine DS in
Washington and chief foreign correspondent Phillip Williams in LA
Phil can I start with you what's happening there well this is one of many
demonstrations throughout the city at the moment there are probably a couple
of thousand people here on just off Hollywood Boulevard this is this is the
boulevard where dreams are made but the dreams of these people are far more
equitable society where black people don't have to walk outside in fear these
protests have just continues stay in they day out and there's no apparent end
to them these people here what what's different about this protest it appears
is that these people are very determined they're going to get something tangible
exactly what depends on who you talk to but the the generals feeling of it all
is that the u.s. is out of kilter it's it's out of balance and prefer well a
very long time particularly black Americans have had to live in it with
this fear of arrest a fear of mistreatment particularly by the police
and this time they want to see an end to it exactly how that happens it is not
clear and that's the thing isn't it Phil we've been talking to people this
morning on the program about reform to police departments at
the local level but while this started because of George Floyd there is so much
else going on behind the scenes with in equal treatment in the US including with
coronavirus are people concerned about the risks on the ground their health
risks at all
all the years people have discussed that but the reaction from some has been that
the protest movement is more important than the risk of getting a COBIT that
the risk of the spread of Cabot that that's how strongly and how passionately
people feel mind you of course a lot of those people's expressing those views
are young people the ones least likely to be badly affected by the virus and so
there might be a sense of well it's not going to hurt me but yes it is a risk
and it if there's been lots of warnings of course in Australia too about the
sort of protests that we've seen in Australia but that's though if there is
a risk if there is going to be a spike it won't be seen for a week or two and I
guess people have got this protest in mind at the top of their minds at the
moment the mere fact that they here many of them in March I mean most of them are
wearing masks at the moment it does tell you that they are at least thinking
about it but it's not it's not trumping in the sense the the message which is
equality innocence a new deal for all Americans now it's a very very big ideal
it's a big picture here but these people are determined this time they're going
to get it and across the country kathryn dese what's the mood like on the ground
in DC good morning Lisa look it's very peaceful it's very passionate we did
expect to see some of the numbers that we saw yesterday drop after we saw those
enormous crowds take to the streets from both the east to the west coast's and
they have but as you can see there are still thousands of people gathering on
the streets of the nation's capital here they're outside the White House yet
again they're outside the Capitol building we're seeing a great
cross-section of society here today Lisa we're seeing people from both the white
and black communities we're seeing people from the middle class we're
seeing everything from families with small children to teenagers and young
professionals who are demanding change for the next generation we've also seen
Mitch me who is a Republican senator marched
down Pennsylvania Avenue for in protest in support of the protest movement here
we believe he is the first Republican senator to do so he has tweeted some
context saying that his father did it during the civil rights movement in the
1960s and it is still an incredibly important issue that they need to demand
change on and as you mentioned those 1,600 National Guard troops that were
deployed here to the nation's capital to try and quell the protests at the order
of President Donald Trump are now starting to withdraw that's because we
have seen nothing but peaceful protests here for days now and it became a major
point of contention between the president and the Democratic mayor of DC
Muriel Bowser who of course has now called it an
invasion of her City she said president Trump's actions just led more protesters
to take to the streets and make a point of being peaceful and a really
interesting development as well : pal the former Secretary of State but also
military generals speaking out against Donald Trump another voice in what is a
growing list of senior people saying they're not happy yeah that's right and
we when Colin Powell came out this morning on national television and
criticized President Donald Trump for the way in which he's handled this the
next question was who's next and we've seen Mitt Romney already take
to the streets it's probably not a surprise given he is a longtime critic
of the president but you know Colin Powell just adds to a long list of
high-profile military leaders or former military leaders who have criticized how
the president has handled this he's called him a liar he's announced that he
is going to be voting for Joe Biden who is the Democratic nominee that of course
is quite a surprise to many people given he is a Republican he's a member of the
Republican Party so I think that just shows what people across the country are
starting to think of how this has been handled
Kathryn desks in DC and Phil Williams in LA thanks for joining us
you