Man shelters protesters in his home in Washington D.C to protect them from arrest

A US man sheltered scores of protesters in his Washington D.C home in a bid to protect them from being arrested for violating the city's curfew laws.

Rahul Dubey opened his front door on Monday evening to more than 70 strangers after hundreds of people protesting the death of George Floyd became trapped when police closed both ends of the street they were demonstrating on.

The incident came after Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered a 7pm to 6am citywide curfew on Monday in response to the sometimes violent protests which erupted following the death of Mr Floyd last week in Minneapolis.

Speaking to the BBC about his gesture, Mr Dubey said he heard "screaming" outside his home as those demonstrating were boxed in.

"They were kind of pinned in on the street and I had been here for a while, so I noticed the crowd was starting to come in a little bit heavier and they had nowhere to go," he added.

"I heard a bang and screams and thuds, and all of a sudden there was just this rolling push of people.

"It happened really fast, I flung open the door and people that were on the steps ran in, and they were coughing and tripping and their eyes were burning and they were yelling as they were falling on the steps."

"We were grabbing them by the t-shirt and saying 'get in the house, get in the house'."

One of the protesters who was outside Mr Dubay's house on Monday evening told CNN the crowd assembled in the residential neighbourhood had been peacefully marching away from the White House before being boxed in by police.

The protester, who asked to be identified only as Meka, described how officers then used force against those gathered along the street.

"I guess someone gave an order, and they just started pushing us, spraying mace, trampling people, and then that's when everybody started panicking," the 22-year-old student said.

Meka said he then saw a friend of his running up the steps into a nearby home where a man was waving at the protesters, signalling for them to come into the property.

"I just ran towards the steps ran up the steps and just started to get inside as quick as possible," he added. "In the moment, I didn't know if it was the right decision, but I guess it was."

Describing the scenes in his house after Meka and others had poured in, Mr Dubey told the BBC "every square inch of this place had a person and body in it".

"And they were all strangers, that was amazing, they didn't know each other, it wasn't a group of people," he said.

"From age to race to ethnicity to sexual orientation, it was amazing, it was America.

"It just gave me a lot of hope, and we got everybody home."

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham on Tuesday said that none of the protesters inside the house were arrested and that officers "were in constant communication with that homeowner throughout the evening".

Mr Newsham also said 300 people were arrested Monday night, including 194 in the area around Mr Dubay's house, CNN reported.

Members of the local community have meanwhile left thank you notes at the property after learning of Mr Dubay's gesture.

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