Active-Duty Troops Deployed To Washington DC Are Returning To Their Home Base

Active-duty troops brought in to help if needed with the civil unrest in the nation’s capitol are beginning to return to their home base, after two days of more peaceful demonstrations in Washington, D.C., defense officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The officials said that about 200 soldiers with the 82nd Airborne’s immediate response force will be the first to leave on Wednesday. The remainder of the active-duty troops, who have all been kept at military bases outside the city in northern Virginia and Maryland, will also get pulled home in the coming days if conditions allow. The active-duty troops were available, but were not used in response to the protests.

The departure of the troops comes as Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters Wednesday that current conditions do not warrant using military forces for law enforcement in containing the protests, angering the White House. Trump has in recent days talked about using the military to quell violent protests in U.S. cities.

About 1,300 active-duty troops were brought in to the Capitol region early this week as protests turned violent.