A man who threw a sandwich at a border agent in Washington DC has been charged with assault as tensions flare between protesters and law enforcement in the US capital.
The man, named by media as Sean Charles Dunn, was arrested after allegedly hurling a wrapped Subway sandwich at a Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer on Sunday.
Demonstrators have taken to the streets of Washington DC accusing Donald Trump of seeking to institute martial law after the president took federal control of the city’s police force and deployed 800 National Guard officers this week.
He has also flooded the streets with hundreds of federal agents from agencies including CBP, FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Footage posted on social media shows the man later named as Mr Dunn standing face-to-face with officers, wearing a pink shirt and shorts with a wrapped sandwich in his hand.
He then throws the sandwich into the chest of an agent, before fleeing down the street as he is pursued by several officers. The footage does not capture his arrest.
According to court documents filed on Wednesday, Mr Dunn approached law enforcement officers on 14th and U Street in North West Washington, shouting obscenities and calling them fascists.
Shortly after 11pm, he is alleged to have thrown a sandwich at one of the officers, before being arrested and charged “assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and employees of the United States”.
Mr Dunn is said to have admitted to one of his arresting officers: “I did it. I threw a sandwich.”
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia and a former Fox News host, announced on social media on Wednesday that he had been charged with assaulting an officer.
“An individual went up to one of the federal law enforcement officers and started jumping up and down and screaming at him berating him yelling at him,” she claimed in a video posted on X.
“Then he took a subway sandwich… and took it and threw it at the officer. He thought it was funny. Well he doesn’t think it’s funny today, because we charged him with a felony assault on a police officer, and we’re going to back the police to the hilt.
“So there – stick your Subway sandwich somewhere else.”
Protests broke out around 14th Street on Wednesday night after law enforcement set up a vehicle checkpoint, with demonstrators shouting: “Go home, fascists” and “Get off our streets.”
Some stood in front of the checkpoint and urged drivers to turn back.
Mr Trump said on Wednesday he would seek to extend his control of DC’s police force, which is currently being commanded by Attorney General Pam Bondi, beyond the 30-day limit set out in law.
Doing so would require backing from Congress, where the president said he expected Republicans to “approve this pretty much unanimously”.
On Thursday, DC police announced plans to establish a juvenile curfew area in the south east of the city, where under-18s will be banned from gathering in groups of nine or more between 11pm and 6am from Friday to Monday.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said law enforcement had made 49 arrests in Washington on Wednesday night and “removed” 29 illegal immigrants.
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