Heavy security and big protests dominate ceremony’s planning
A march scheduled for tomorrow could attract as many as half a million people
aw enforcement officials were in the final stages of sealing off a heavily fortified security zone encompassing the Capitol and the historic National Mall here as they prepare for the inauguration today and the substantial protests it is expected to attract.
In addition to the usual range of threats, officials from federal, state and local agencies are preparing this year for what they say could be large-scale protests aimed at disrupting the ceremony and registering disapproval of Donald Trump’s presidency at the moment the world is watching his ascension to office.
A march planned for tomorrow could attract as many as half a million people, one official said, putting additional stress on law enforcement.
The nexus of those threats are making this week’s festivities the most difficult security challenge since the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009, which drew a record crowd estimated at 1.8 million to the city and prompted at least one eventually discredited foreign threat, officials said.
“We’ve got to be vigilant, we’ve got to plan, we’ve got to prepare,” Jeh Johnson, the secretary of homeland security, said during a briefing last week.
Intelligence agencies said they knew of no credible threat to the inauguration or surrounding events, but that had not stopped the security teams from deploying at full capacity.
During a pre-inaugural dinner in Washington on Tuesday, Trump predicted his swearingin ceremony would draw a “record” crowd and praised a group of motorcycle riders he said would protect his celebration from protesters.
Government officials say they see no evidence to support that claim. Instead, they are planning for a crowd of 700,000 to 900,000 people, though officials cautioned that the number could swing up or down depending on the weather.
A crowd within that range would be typical for the swearing-in of a new president, but significantly smaller than the estimated 1.8 million people who gathered in 2009 to watch Obama take the oath.
Deep political divisions
A relatively small crowd, estimated at 300,000 people, turned out for George W. Bush’s 2001 inauguration.
But this time, reflecting the nation’s deep and persistent political divisions, those spectators attending the inauguration are expected to be joined in Washington by thousands of others who are planning demonstrations for and against Trump.
Johnson said law enforcement officials had tallied 99 groups planning actions for the inaugural period, including 63 on Friday alone.
Washington and National Park Service police have sought to separate the demonstrating groups from one another and from the main inaugural events, wherever possible.
The largest demonstration should come Saturday, when hundreds of thousands of people are expected to participate in the Women’s March on Washington.
Christopher T. Geldart, the director of homeland security for the District of Columbia, said his team was preparing for 400,000 to 500,000 people at the march and expected that smaller protest actions could crop up elsewhere in the city on Saturday, as well.
For security officials, the presence of protesters — and potential clashes — will add a layer of concern to the complex plan to safeguard the nation’s transfer of power that has been under development for much of the last year and will most likely cost more than $100 million (Dh367 million). A patchwork of several dozen agencies will command a team of roughly 28,000 security personnel monitoring the capital region.