Live updates: Capitol security awaits rally for hundreds charged in deadly January riot
Law enforcement prepared to confront an undetermined number of demonstrators expected to return to the Capitol today, this time to voice support for rioters charged after the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the seat of government.
Eight months after the Capitol building was breached by violent supporters of former President Donald Trump, the grounds are once again sheathed in iron fencing.
United States Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger, who assumed command following a security failure that claimed his predecessor’s job, Friday declared the agency ready for the task.
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“We are planning for a safe event,” Manger said at a news conference. “We’re not going to tolerate violence and we won’t tolerate criminal behavior of any kind.”
Rallygoers ready for noon demonstration
The few rallygoers who got to the site early said the protest is not about Trump or politics, but about what they call an “abuse” of the justice system regarding jailed Jan. 6 rioters.
“There are a lot of people in there who are not violent offenders,” said Anders Bruce, 30, a test tutor who said he lives in northern Virginia. “The punishment is disproportionate to the alleged crime.”
Bruce and a friend stood near a small stage, just across a reflecting pond from the massive equestrian statue of victorious Civil War general and President Ulysses Grant.
After a weapons-sniffing dog trotted up and inspected Bruce and a friend, they criticized the heavy security precautions.
“It’s excessive and it’s theatrical,” Bruce said.
— David Jackson
including the far-right Proud Boys, have been “mocking” the event, suggesting it’s a set-up by law enforcement to conduct a new sweep of arrests,” Beirich said.
“This is not an event that is being celebrated by far-right extremist groups,” she said.
Capitol Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and Homeland Security
Early estimates have projected a crowd of up to 700 demonstrators who are expected to gather at Union Square, a public plaza just west of the Capitol.
If accurate, even that number would represent a fraction of the violent throng that ultimately swarmed the Capitol building in January, leaving five dead and nearly 150 police officers injured.
Yet that horrific January scene and a deadly April incident in which a car rammed a Capitol barricade, killing officer William Evans, remain fresh reminders that the iconic domed building not only serves as a symbol of American democracy but a looming target.
Local, federal police brace for upcoming rally supporting Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendants
Honore’s report, released in March, called for a revamped training program, intelligence gathering system and an effort to fill hundreds of positions.
“I’ve got confidence in them (Capitol police). They now have equipment to use in civil disturbances; they have been getting recent training. I don’t think they want to take another … whoopin,” Honore said.
“We ought not be stupid again,” he said.
Chuck Wexler, executive director of the law enforcement think tank Police Executive Research Forum who has talked with security planners, said Saturday’s rally represents the “first major test” for local authorities since the deadly Capitol riot.
“So much happened on Jan. 6 that underscored the importance of intelligence, mutual aid, communications and the need for a ‘Plan B’,” Wexler said.
Organizer: Event designed to be ‘peaceful’
While the rally is pushing a politically-charged counter-narrative of the Jan. 6 violence, organizer Braynard maintains that the event, and other similar gatherings planned Saturday in more than a dozen states, are designed to be “peaceful.”
In a video message, Braynard has urged demonstrators to be “respectful and kind” to law enforcement officers. He has discouraged attendees from openly supporting political candidates with distinctive clothing, flags and other symbols that associated Jan. 6 with Trump.
Instead, Braynard said the purpose was to call attention to what he described as “grave violations of civil rights” involving hundreds of those charged in the January riot.
“We’re battling disinformation,” he said in an interview.
Even if the event lacks numbers, Beirich, of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said the group’s message will likely resonate with the far-right.
“One of the biggest concerns is this narrative that they have been pushing, as if these (Jan. 6 rioters) were on the level of Martin Luther King,” Beirich said. “It’s part of an attempt at undermining our democratic principles.”
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