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At least six people were arrested in Washington, DC Tuesday night and night as thousands prepared for larger protests in support of President Trump on Wednesday, CBS DC affiliate WUSA-TV reported, citing local police and American park. The charges included counts of firearms, illegal possession of fireworks and assault on a police officer.
Videos on social media showed clashes between protesters and police.
Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Supporters of Mr. Trump have traveled to the nation’s capital to applaud his baseless allegations of electoral fraud ahead of what will be a highly controversial Congressional vote on Wednesday to affirm Joe Biden’s electoral victory. The president is expected to address his supporters personally on Wednesday morning at a rally on the Ellipse, just south of the White House.
Organizers said the rally would continue throughout the day. An afternoon march was also scheduled to the U.S. Capitol, where Congress will vote to confirm the election results. A number of prominent Trump supporters were expected, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
A few blocks from the White House, protesters – many without masks – gathered at Freedom Plaza on Tuesday to denounce the Congress vote. As temperatures plummeted in the low 40s and steady rain swept through the streets, hundreds of people stayed in the square until nightfall.
The president tweeted his support for the protesters: “Washington is inundated with people who don’t want to see an election victory stolen by emboldened leftist radical Democrats. Our country has had enough, they won’t take it anymore! We hear you (and I love you) from the Oval Office. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! “
Speakers included former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was pardoned by the pardoned president after being twice convicted of lying to the FBI in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia.
“We are at a pivotal moment in US history,” Flynn told the mostly unmasked crowd. “This country is awake now.”
Also speaking to the crowd, Trump’s longtime ally Roger Stone, another recipient of a pardon from the president.
Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The protests coincide with Wednesday’s congressional vote supposed to certify the electoral college’s results, which Mr. Trump continues to dispute.
The rallies allowed local officials and law enforcement officials to prepare for possible violent street clashes. Many businesses in downtown Washington have closed their windows over fears the protest could turn into unrest in May and June, when dozens of businesses were vandalized.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser called on National Guard troops to help bolster the city’s police force. She urged residents to stay away from downtown Washington and avoid confrontation with anyone “looking to fight.” But, she warned, “we will not allow people to incite violence, intimidate our residents or cause destruction in our city.”
In addition to the National Guard, federal agents were on standby, in case they were needed quickly in the city this week.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons said around 100 “specially trained officers” had been dispatched to Justice Ministry headquarters to assist other security personnel, but would remain “in reserve unless necessary” .
The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, said that unlike the May and June unrest in Washington, it had no plans to deploy customs and border protection officers to Wednesday’s protest.
Election officials from both political parties, governors of major battlefield states and former Trump attorney general William Barr said there was no widespread fraud in the election . Almost all of the legal challenges from Trump and his allies were dismissed by judges, including two dismissed by the Supreme Court.
A pro-Trump rally on December 12 ended in violence as hundreds of Trump supporters, wearing the black and yellow signature of the far-right Proud Boys, sought confrontations with a collective of local activists trying to ban them from blacks. Lives Matter Plaza, a neighborhood near the White House. At least two local black churches had Black Lives Matter banners torn and set on fire.
On Monday, police arrested Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 36, after arriving in Washington before the protests. Tarrio was charged with burning one of the Black Lives Matter banners in December and was found with two high capacity gun magazines, police said. A judge on Tuesday signed an order barring Tarrio from entering the District of Columbia, with very limited exceptions related to his criminal case.
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