Law enforcement officers from Calvert County Maryland Sheriff’s Office standing on the Ellipse, area just south of the White House in Washington, as they watch demonstrators protest the death of George Floyd, Sunday, May 31, 2020 (Image: AP)

The protests that started over the killing of George Floyd have reached Washington DC and it seems the White House has not been spared either. According to a report by Associated Press, several protesters lined up in front of the Oval office and started stone pelting which prompted secret agents to shift the US President Donald Trump into secure bunker inside the White House.

The bunker in the oval office reportedly has been designed to protect US presidents from imminent threats such as terrorist attacks. Associated Press has reported quoting a Republican close to the White House on the condition of anonymity that President Trump spent nearly an hour in the bunker. Reportedly, the latest incident close to the White House was the first such level of security alert after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The Trump family was taken aback on the scale of attacks that were unleashed on the White House from the protesters, the AP report said further. The report could not substantiate if the First Lady Melania Trump and the 14-year-old member of the Trump family–Barron Trump also took shelter in the security bunker.

The Trump administration has been under attack from black Americans who see the administration taking hard steps on protesters in a bid to crush the agitation. Donald Trump has expressed worries for his safety to the agents while he has praised the security agents for their duty, reported Associated Press.

The protests named ‘I Can’t Breathe’ started after a black man George Floyd died after he was attacked by a white Minneapolis police officer on the neck. The video of the attack that went viral showed Floyd repeatedly saying ‘I can’t breathe’. The protests that started in Minneapolis quickly swept across the country and also took violent turns. The protestors have also started an online solidarity campaign for black Americans named #BlackLivesMatter.

Earlier, Riot Police in Minneapolis had arrested a black CNN reporter who was covering the protests live. But the Minnesota governor Tim Walz apologized and said that the media will not be stopped from covering whatever will unfold in the state. In a similar incident in Minneapolis, Reuter’s cameraman Julio-Cesar Chavez was hit by a rubber bullet from riot police on the night of May 30.