Donald Trump was rushed to an underground bunker beneath the White House amid feverish Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC, a source close to the US President has revealed.
Protests have erupted across the country and the globe after African-American man George Floyd died while being pinned to the ground by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Footage of the incident has reignited an ongoing racial debate in the US, culminating in impassioned protests, riots and looting.
Outside the gates of the White House, where angry demonstrators directed their anger at Trump, protests have turned violent. On Sunday (local time), 500 National Guard soldiers were ordered to report to the White House to defend it from protesters.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy has now upped that number to 1700 - the entire Washington DC National Guard - to help police control the crowds.
On Friday the threat was so great that Secret Service agents took Trump to a bunker beneath the White House to protect him, according to a New York Times source with first-hand knowledge.
The bunker is usually reserved for potential terror attacks, but Trump was transported there after hundreds of angry protesters denounced him from outside White House gates, some throwing bottles and bricks.
A lockdown was placed on the White House while Trump was taken to the bunker, then lifted about an hour later.
The protests at the White House have been some of the US's most violent, with Fox News reporter Leland Vittert attacked and chased by protesters on Saturday night (US time), and drowned out by people yelling obscenities during his live-cross.
Tear gas stun grenades have also been fired into crowds of more than 1000 people after protesters piled barriers and road signs in the middle of the street and lit them on fire. Others burned the US flag and pulled branches off nearby trees.
The scenes in DC are similar to those seen in other states across the US. In Minneapolis, where Floyd died, there are concerns white supremacists have infiltrated the protests to cause havoc and reflect badly on the black community.
Last week the police officer who pinned Floyd to the ground, Derek Chauvin, was charged with third-degree murder. However, three other police officers who were present have yet to be charged.
