FBI warns of armed protests
WASHINGTON: The FBI has warned of armed protests being planned for Washington and all 50 US state capitals in the days before presidentelect Joe Biden’s inauguration next Thursday, a federal law enforcement source said yesterday.
Threatened with more violence from outgoing President Donald Trump’s supporters following last week’s storming of the US Capitol, the FBI issued warnings for next weekend that run at least until the day of the inauguration, the source said.
In other steps to safeguard the US capital, the National Guard was authorised to send up to 15,000 troops to Washington, and tourists were barred from visiting the Washington Monument until January 25.
National Guard Bureau chief General Daniel Hokanson yesterday told reporters he expected about 10,000 troops in Washington by Sunday to help provide security, logistics and communications.
He said the number could rise to 15,000 if requested by local authorities.
At least one elected representative asked the Pentagon to do more.
Senator Chris Murphy, who said he was sending a letter to the acting secretary of defence yesterday, said it was unclear if the National Guard would be sufficient to protect the nation’s capital and that activeduty troops might be needed also.
‘‘I’m not afraid of taking the oath outside,’’ Biden told reporters in Newark, Delaware, referring to the traditional setting for the swearingin ceremony on the Capitol grounds. But he said it was critically important that people ‘‘who engaged in sedition and threatened people’s lives, defaced public property, caused great damage’’ be held accountable.
Biden’s inaugural committee said yesterday the theme of the January 21 ceremony would be ‘‘America United’’. Trump, who has sought unsuccessfully to overturn the November 3 election results with false claims of widespread fraud, said last week he would not attend the ceremony, a decision the presidentelect supported.
The National Park Service said it would suspend tours of the Washington Monument due to safety concerns from threats to disrupt the inauguration.
‘‘Groups involved in the . . . riots at the US Capitol continue to threaten to disrupt the 59th presidential inauguration,’’ it said in a statement.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called for the US Interior Department to cancel public gathering permits until January 25.
‘‘This inaugural planning period has to be very different than all the others,’’ she told reporters yesterday.
Bowser asked acting Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf to extend the National Special Security Event period from yesterday until January 25.
❛ This inaugural planning period has to be very different than all the others Washington, DC Mayor
Muriel Bowser
The Secret Service heads security operations for events, including presidential inaugurations, considered to be nationally significant.
Wolf said in a statement he had instructed the Secret Service to begin National Special Security Event operations for the inauguration effective tomorrow, instead of next Wednesday, as previously scheduled. The acting secretary told his staff he was stepping down yesterday.
The presidential inaugural committee and Bowser have told Americans not to travel to the inauguration, and said Washington’s National Mall would be covered with 191,500 flags of different sizes to represent the missing crowds.
A presidential inauguration traditionally draws hundreds of thousands of visitors but the ceremonies have been scaled back because of Covid19. — Reuters