Since losing the presidential election, liberal snowflakes have been protesting, rioting and lighting fires across the country.
From Berekely, California to Auburn, Alabama to Washington, D.C., leftist thugs have taken to the street to start fights and smash windows.
A new study looked into the cost of these violent protesters — what it found was staggering.
The major protests in Washington that have greeted President Donald Trump’s first year in office are set to return in force, continuing an already expensive year for city officials who work to keep people safe from the rioting liberals.
With polls showing Trump facing stronger overall approval than former President Barack Obama, critics say these protests are pushed by liberal organizations determined to undermine Trump’s first days. Last weekend, demonstrators calling on Trump to release his tax returns rioted in Berkeley, California while police stood down under orders of the mayor.
District of Columbia officials are accustomed to accommodating First Amendment demonstrations. But there’s a real chance the city will burn through the money it gets every year from Congress to cover police overtime and other costs.
That will cost taxpayers across the United States tens of millions, experts say.
The busy year for protests also comes amid an ongoing debate about crowd sizes and how they’re estimated, which is nothing new. The National Park Service stopped counting crowds after it was accused of racism for estimating that 400,000 people attended the Million Man March in 1995. B
For local law enforcement, responding to protests is usually no big deal — until recently. The violence around Trump’s inauguration, when a group of self-described anarchists broke windows at downtown businesses and set fire to a limousine, was unusual and led to hundreds of arrests.
“It’s the nation’s capital. It’s where people come to voice their grievances with the government,” Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham said. “We welcome that.”
But it’s becoming costly. Congress sets aside money every year to reimburse the city for the cost of First Amendment activities — more than $30 million was spent during the inauguration, for example.
The biggest cost is police overtime; the department pays officers extra to staff demonstrations so it’s not taking anyone off regular patrol. For the current fiscal year, Congress has set aside $14.9 million to reimburse the city, and $3.8 million of that had already been spent by Jan. 1, which doesn’t include the women’s march. The city is also still seeking reimbursement for what it spent on the inauguration. While Congress allocated $19.9 million, the city spent more than $30 million.
And it’s only going to get worse.
The Associated Press contributed to this article