(Photo: AP)

Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday said Missouri will send National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. amid sometimes violent protests in the nation’s capital.

A spokeswoman for the Missouri National Guard said the Missouri troops are heading out in response to a request for help from the District of Columbia National Guard.

Col. Anna Friederich-Maggard said Missouri troops will depart over the next several days. She said she can’t say how many Missouri troops are going for security reasons.

The National Guard is in Washington supporting local law enforcement. Protests there have been violent at times. The protests are in response to the death in Minnesota of a black man, George Floyd, who died after a white police officer pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for several minutes.

So far, Indiana has sent about 300 National Guard troops to D.C., Tennessee has sent about 1,000 and South Carolina has sent more than 400.