Permits have been filed and approved. Authorities have been preparing and businesses are once again boarding up ahead of a planned pro-Trump demonstration in downtown D.C. on January 6.
D.C police chief Robert Contee says violence will not be tolerated.
Authorities have released a list of extensive downtown street closures and parking restrictions. The area is concentrated around the White House and parts of the National Mall Tuesday and Wednesday.
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On Monday, the National Park Service issued a permit to the group Women For America First to gather at the southeast and southwest quadrants of the Ellipse. The public gathering permit allows up to 30,000 to gather until January 8 at 8 p.m. Members of the far-right Proud Boys group are also planning to attend in record numbers.
The protests are planned for Wednesday, the day Congress meets to formally count electoral votes and affirm president-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Several of President Trump’s allies are expected to speak.
A "Stop the Steal" rally has also been announced for Tuesday night at Freedom Plaza from 5 to 8 p.m. Speakers expected include two Trump political advisors, Roger Stone and George Papadopolous, who were both pardoned by the president after they were convicted of federal crimes in Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation.
Alexandra Bailey, the new Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for this area who was just sworn in on Saturday says she’s been flooded with concerned emails.
“I started to receive emails from concerned constituents, LBGTQ, Jewish, saying that they want to know how MPD is going to protect us. What they should do because they are scared,” says Bailey.
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Most recently, on Dec. 30th, President Trump tweeted in all caps: “JANUARY SIXTH, SEE YOU IN DC!”
Several of President Trump’s allies are expected to speak at this event on Wednesday, including Roger Stone who was recently pardoned by the president.
The rally will see pro-Trump supporters marching around the Capitol, Washington Monument and Freedom Plaza. Online chats between members of far-right groups, conspiracy theorists, and white supremacists suggest that violence involving guns could also break out at the events.
Members of the Asbury United Methodist Church claim that a black lives matter banner was taken and burned at the last Proud Boys rally. A second sign has since been stolen.
Bailey believes Black churches downtown will once again be targeted.
“To protect the spaces that we know through experience are going to be targeted. My understanding at this point is that MPD will not commit to that. So I have decided that on the fifth and the sixth I will stay out and I’m going to stay out all night and I’m going to stand watch at Asbury United Methodist. It’s within my single-member district and it needs someone there to call the cops.”
See the full list of no-parking areas and street closures here.