Law enforcement officers far outnumbered protesters at state capitol grounds on Sunday, as handful of Trump supporters who think the president’s false claim that he won the 2020 election turned out for what authorities feared could be violent demonstrations.
More than a dozen states activated National Guard troops to assist safe their capitol buildings following an FBI warning of armed demonstrations, with ideal-wing extremists emboldened by the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6.
But by late Sunday afternoon, only handfuls of demonstrators had taken to the streets alongside a lot bigger crowds of law enforcement officers and media personnel.
“It was a non-event today and we are glad it was,” stated Troy Thompson, spokesman for the Department of General Services, the agency that protects the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg.
On Sunday afternoon, police opened streets about the creating that had been blocked off in anticipation of larger crowds.
Only a handful of Trump supporters had shown up, which includes Alex, a 34-year-old drywall finisher from Hershey, Pennsylvania who stated he had been at the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol but did not storm the creating. He declined to give his final name.
Wearing a hoodie emblazoned with “Fraud 2020”, he stated he believed November’s presidential election was stolen and wanted to show his help for Trump. He noted the lack of protesters at the Pennsylvania capitol on Sunday.
“There’s nothing going on,” he stated.
A similarly compact group of about a dozen protesters, a handful of armed with rifles, stood outdoors Michigan’s capitol in Lansing on Sunday afternoon. One wore fatigue pants, a tactical vest and blue Hawaiian shirt, a trademark of the anti-government boogaloo movement.
“I am not here to be violent and I hope no one shows up to be violent,” stated a single man standing on the lawn in front of the capitol. The man, who refused to give his name, wore a “Make America Great Again” hat and waving a “Don’t tread on me” flag.
By early evening, the capitol grounds in Lansing had been deserted.
PREPARING FOR VIOLENCE
The nationwide safety uptick followed the attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington by a mix of extremists and Trump supporters, some of whom known as for the death of Vice President Mike Pence as he presided more than the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.
The FBI and other federal agencies have warned of the prospective for future violence top up to Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, as white supremacists and other extremists seek to exploit aggravation amongst Trump supporters who have purchased into his falsehoods about electoral fraud.
Tens of thousands of safety personnel from the National Guard and law enforcement agencies have descended upon Washington, D.C., to bolster safety ahead of Wednesday’s ceremony.
On Sunday, Capitol Police in Washington stated they had arrested a lady at a safety checkpoint on Saturday for falsely impersonating a police officer right after she “presented what was identified as a military challenge coin, and stated that she was a law enforcement officer.”
The lady underwent a psychiatric evaluation ahead of getting transported to Central Cell Block, police stated in a statement.
Downtown Washington was a ghost town on Sunday. Gun-toting National Guard soldiers in camouflage manned checkpoints across the city center, which was closed off to site visitors with significant military cars deployed to block streets.
It was not clear irrespective of whether the FBI warning and ramped up safety presence about the nation may have led some protesters to cancel plans to go to their state capitols.
Following the Jan. 6 violence in Washington, some militia members stated they would not attend a extended-planned pro-gun demonstration in Virginia on Monday, exactly where authorities had been worried about the threat of violence as numerous groups converged on the state capital, Richmond.
The streets about the statehouse in Richmond had been lined with barricades on Sunday afternoon, but aside from a handful of police officers and reporters, the region was deserted.
Some militias and extremist groups told followers to keep dwelling this weekend, citing the improved safety or the threat that the planned events had been law enforcement traps.
Bob Gardner, leader of the Pennsylvania Lightfoot Militia, stated his group had no plans to be in Harrisburg this weekend.
“We’ve got our own communities to worry about,” Gardner stated earlier this week. “We don’t get involved in politics.”
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