At least six people were arrested in Washington, DC on Tuesday night and at night, while thousands of people were preparing for larger protests in support of President Trump on Wednesday, CBS affiliate DC WUSA-TV reported, citing the US Police Park. Among the charges were gun counts, illegal fireworks and assaulting a police officer.
Videos on social media showed some clashes between protesters and police.
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Trump supporters have come to the nation’s capital to applaud their unfounded allegations of electoral fraud before what will be a highly controversial vote in Congress on Wednesday to assert Joe Biden’s victory. The president is due to address his supporters in person on Wednesday morning, during a rally at Ellipse, south of the White House.
Organizers said the rally will continue all day. An afternoon march was also planned for the United States Capitol, where Congress will vote to confirm the election results. Several prominent Trump supporters were expected to attend, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
A few blocks from the White House, protesters – many without masks – gathered at Freedom Plaza on Tuesday to criticize the Congressional vote. When temperatures dropped to 40 degrees and constant rain swept the streets, hundreds remained in the square until nightfall.
The president tweeted his support for the protesters: “Washington is being inundated with people who don’t want to see an electoral victory stolen by encouraged radical Left Democrats. Our country is fed up, they can’t take it anymore! We heard you (and I love you) from the Hall Oval. MAKE AMERICA AGAIN! “
Speakers included former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was pardoned by the president after he was twice convicted of lying to the FBI in the investigation of special attorney Robert Mueller in Russia.
“We are at a crucial moment in the history of the United States,” Flynn told the unmasked crowd. “This country is awake now.”
Also addressing the crowd was Trump’s former ally Roger Stone, another recipient of the president’s pardon.
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The protests coincide with the Congressional vote on Wednesday that is expected to certify the results of the Electoral College, which Trump continues to contest.
The demonstrations have prompted local authorities and security forces to prepare for possible violent clashes in the streets. Many companies in central Washington have boarded up windows, fearing that the protest could turn into the unrest seen in May and June, when dozens of companies were vandalized.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser called on National Guard troops to help strengthen the city’s police force. She urged residents to stay away from downtown Washington and avoid confrontations with those “looking for a fight”. But, she warned, “We are not going to 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 if they were needed quickly by the city this week.
The Federal Prison Office said about 100 “specially trained officers” were sent to the Justice Department headquarters to assist other security personnel, but would remain “in reserve capacity, unless necessary”.
The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, said that, unlike the May and June riots in Washington, it did not plan to send Customs and Border Protection agents to the demonstration on Wednesday.
Election officials from both political parties, governors in key states on battlefields and former Trump attorney general William Barr said there was no widespread election fraud. Almost all legal challenges to Trump and his allies have been rejected by judges, including two rejected by the Supreme Court.
A pro-Trump demonstration on December 12 ended in violence when hundreds of Trump supporters, wearing the black and yellow signature of the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, sought clashes with a collective of local activists who were trying to stop them to enter the Black Lives Matter Plaza, an area close to the White House. At least two local Black churches had banners of Black Lives Mattered overturned and set on fire.
On Monday, police arrested Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 36, after he arrived in Washington before the protests. Tarrio was accused of burning one of the Black Lives Matter tracks in December and was found with two high-capacity firearms magazines, police said. A judge signed an order on Tuesday banning Tarrio from entering the District of Columbia, with very limited exceptions related to his criminal case.