TAKING NO CHANCES
THOUSANDS OF TROOPS MOBILISE ACROSS U.S. AS TENSIONS INCREASE AHEAD OF BIDEN’S INAUGURATION
CITIES across the US were braced for violence last night as thousands of troops headed to Washington DC in preparation for president-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday.
Pro-Trump supporters have threatened protests while militia organisers called for an ‘armed march on Capitol Hill and all state capitols’.
About 7,000 National Guard soldiers are in position – with another 18,000 due to join them – following the storming of the Congress building on January 6 which left five people dead. Meanwhile ten states mobilised troops ahead of yesterday’s protests.
In one brazen call to arms, the antigovernment ‘Boogaloo’ movement said: ‘This will be a chance for Americans young and old to physically demonstrate to the world the massive amount of armed citizens in this country. Come armed at your personal discretion.‘
Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona states have fortified their government buildings while Connecticut was expecting 2,000 activists in its capital city, Hartford.
‘We are preparing possibly for anything to happen,’ said Trooper Pedro Muniz. ‘We won’t tolerate any acts of violence.’
Mr Biden will embark on a host of executive actions during his first days in the White House, according to reports. He will overturn Donald Trump’s entry ban on people from seven mostly-Muslim countries and reverse his decision to abandon the Paris climate agreement.
In a leaked memo, Mr Biden’s chiefof-staff Ron Klain said the presidentelect had made it a campaign pledge to ‘take immediate action to start addressing these crises and build back better’. He went on: ‘As president, he will keep those promises and sign dozens of executive orders [and] presidential memoranda in fulfilment of the promises he made.’
Mr Biden also plans to make the wearing of face masks mandatory in government buildings and halt housing evictions and student loan repayments until the pandemic has subsided.
But his plan to roll back the Trump administration’s harsh border restrictions sparked unease as several hundred migrants were pictured setting off for the US at the weekend.