D.C. police investigate possible hate crimes after Black Lives Matter signs set on fire at predominately Black churches

Black Lives Matter signs that were burned and destroyed at historic Black churches in Washington, D.C., during a pro-Trump rally this weekend are being investigated as possible hate crimes, authorities said.

D.C. police said they were seeking information about the incidents, which occurred at Asbury United Methodist Church, founded in 1836, and Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, where Frederick Douglass’ funeral was held in 1895.

“This weekend, we saw forces of hate seeking to use destruction and intimidation to tear us apart,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement Sunday. “We will not let that happen, and continue to stand together strong and United to Love.”

Bowser went on to say that the police department and religious affairs have been communicating with the staff at churches that were harmed, NBC News reports. Asbury’s senior pastor, Rev. Ianther Mills, said in a statement that pro-Trumpers removed BLM signs from the church and “literally burned it in the street.”

“It pained me especially to see our name, Asbury, in flames,” she said. “For me, it was reminiscent of cross burnings.” Mills said seeing the hate crime on video made her “both indignant and determined to fight the evil that has reared its ugly head.” She continued: ”We had been so confident that no one would ever vandalize the church, but it has happened.”

Mills is referencing a video that went viral showing allegedly far-right protesters destroying and burning the Black Lives Matter sign, reports NBC.

Yolanda Pierce, dean of the Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, called the alleged incidents “acts of both racial terror and religious violence.”

“Burning Black Lives Matter signs ripped from churches is an explicit threat to the sanctity of the Black church and to Black lives and freedom, even if the church itself is not historically Black,” she said.