Capitol Police are taking no chances in preparing for Saturday’s rally at the Capitol in support of rioters imprisoned after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
WASHINGTON — The fence around the Capitol is back up. The District of Columbia’s police department is at the ready. The U.S. Capitol Police have requested assistance from nearby law enforcement agencies including the National Guard. The Capitol Police are taking no chances as they prepare for Saturday’s rally at the Capitol in support of rioters imprisoned after the violent Jan.6 insurrection. They’re working to avoid a repeat of the pre-inauguration attack. Persistent attempts to rewrite the narrative of the violence and panic of the day, and the increasing volatility behind the lie that the 2020 election was stolen have made it impossible to predict what may happen this weekend. After all, law enforcement was only expecting a free speech protest the day Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said at a news conference Friday it was difficult to say whether threats of violence for the Saturday event are credible, but „chatter“ online and elsewhere has been similar to intelligence that was missed in January. A permit for the protest allows 700 people. Manger said he believes the most likely possibility for violence will involve clashes between the protesters and counter-protesters. Police are also preparing for the possibility that some demonstrators may arrive with weapons. On Saturday morning, police were already working to separate the handful of Trump supporters and counter-protesters who had arrived hours before the rally was supposed to kick off. Hundreds of law enforcement officers were being brought into the city and were gearing up at a staging area as large dump trucks and cement barricades lined the streets around the Capitol, outside of the fenced area. The rally, organized by former Trump campaign staffer Matt Braynard, is aimed at supporting people who were detained after the Jan.
