US Park Police are contradicting media reports that tear gas was used to clear protesters from Lafayette Square in front of the White House.

According to The Daily Wire: 

United States Park Police officials defended themselves Tuesday from charges that they fired tear gas at protesters outside of the White House, and denied that they dispersed a demonstration just so that President Donald Trump could walk from the White House across the street to the historic St. John’s Church.

Trump and the Park Police both ran afoul of mainstream media commentators for the incident Monday, with many on social media claiming that the Park Police used extraordinary and violent measures to disperse a peaceful protest simply so the president could take photos outside of the historic church which was nearly burned Sunday night, per Fox News.

…

Speaking to WTOP in Washington, D.C., Tuesday morning, though, the Park Police defended themselves, correcting reports that they fired tear gas into the crowd of protesters and claiming that protests outside the White House had been far from peaceful, with demonstrators hurling bottles and rocks at members of law enforcement and scaling national monuments.

“A source says tear gas was never used — instead smoke canisters were deployed, which don’t have an uncomfortable irritant in them,” WTOP reporter Neil Augenstein claimed on social media.” And, the source says Park Police didn’t know President Trump would be walking across the park several minutes later.”

Officials contradicted claims of peaceful protesters by claiming officers were being pelted by water bottles.