Security shroud over Biden’s inauguration
WASHINGTON: With war-zonelike security, no crowds and coronavirus distancing for guests, Joe Biden’s swearing-in as the 46th US president will be a muted affair unlike any previous inauguration.
Where Washington is normally packed with hundreds of thousands of supporters, celebrities, socialites and lobbyists, the US capital is eerily quiet ahead of Biden’s big day.
Coronavirus concerns were always going to dampen Wednesday’s inauguration, but since departing President Donald Trump’s supporters launched an insurrection in his name, Washington has ordered a security lockdown unseen since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
That has forced Biden’s inauguration team to urge supporters to stay home.
The Capitol Hill, the complex comprising of US Congress and its buildings, was briefly put under lockdown on Monday due to “an external security treat”, local police said after a fire was reported a few blocks away. “All buildings within the Capitol Complex: External security threat, no entry or exit is permitted, stay away from exterior windows, doors. If outside, seek cover,” US Capitol Police said in a message.
The lockdown was later lifted. Since Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January
6, security officials are preparing for anything that could threaten Biden and his supporters.
In the run-up to the inauguration, most traffic has been barred from Washington’s vast downtown.
The Capitol, the White House, and other main buildings are all barricaded and will be defended by more than 20,000 armed National Guard members.
Previous well-attended inaugurations saw more than one million people descend on Washington. This year there will be no place to go: the National Park Service will close the National Mall.
As is traditional, lawmakers, top government officials, justices of the Supreme Court, and other dignitaries will gather on the Capitol building’s grand west front for Wednesday’s ceremony.
In between, Lady Gaga will deliver the national anthem, 22-year-old African American poet Amanda Gorman will read one of her works, and Jennifer Lopez will sing. At midday, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts will give Biden the oath of office, and his vice president Kamala Harris will be sworn in by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Glaringly absent from the ceremony will be Trump, who spent the past two months claiming Biden won the election by fraud.
The main event on Wednesday night stars John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, Ant Clemons, the Foo Fighters and Demi Lovato.
And for at-home parties, there is a curated “Biden+harris Playlist.” True to the new US leader’s age, 78, it spans nearly six decades.