Arlington County Police officers confront demonstrators near the White House on June 1. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP

The New York City Bar Association late Tuesday called on Congress and federal government watchdogs to "promptly investigate" the decision last week to forcibly remove protesters from Washington, D.C.'s Lafayette Square Park ahead of an apparent presidential photo-op outside St. John's Episcopal Church.

The City Bar said in a statement that it had written to congressional leaders and inspectors general to express "deep concerns" about the incident June 1, which took place amid protests following the killing of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.

The organization said that it had demanded that leaders determine who had given the orders to "violently" disperse the largely peaceful crowd and whether local authorities had been notified about the operation.

The City Bar said that federal officers with the U.S. Park Police, along with possibly members of the National Guard, the U.S. Secret Service and federal agencies, had discharged tear gas, pepper agents and rubber bullets to clear a path from the White House, where President Donald Trump had been delivering a nationally televised address from the Rose Garden.

Two military helicopters had also made a low pass over the crowd, scattering glass and debris in a maneuver the City Bar said is sometimes used to disperse enemy combatants.

"The deployment of such extreme and violent measures against innocent civilians exercising rights guaranteed in the Constitution, and particularly the ostentatious militarization of the display of force, raises profound questions about actions that do not appear to be consistent with law," the statement said.

"Moreover, the president, the attorney general, the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and others involved have created serious confusion about what occurred by refusing to answer questions from Congress and by making statements which are contradictory, particularly about who was in charge, and what facts led to the decision to clear the square using force," the City Bar wrote.

The Park Police had claimed that protesters had hurled bottles at them over a fence that had been erected outside the White House, following incidents of violence and looting in some major U.S. cities. The City Bar said video footage of the event showed "isolated incidents" of plastic water bottles being thrown, but asked whether the "Park Police claim more than that, and, if so, on what evidence does it base that claim?"

"We believe there is a strong public interest in inquiries being conducted by Congress and the inspectors general of the relevant agencies to establish, without delay, the facts of this event and whether the actions taken were consistent with law," the statement said.

The City Bar, which has been vocal in its opposition to certain actions taken by the Trump administration, in recent months has also called for U.S. Attorney General William Barr to recuse himself from Justice Department investigations of Trump's dealings with Ukraine and demanded a congressional probe of the president's decision to abruptly remove two inspectors general from their posts. It is not clear, however, what, if any, impact either of those calls had in Washington.

"Especially in light of the broader pattern of actions undermining public confidence in the Department of Justice over the past year, we urge that the necessary congressional inquiry and individual inspectors general investigations and reports be conducted promptly and in a manner that will allow for informed public discussion about these serious threats to, and assaults on, the most basic of our nation's constitutional rights," the statement said.

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