Heavy police presence as protesters trickle in for DC rally

By COLLEEN LONG, MICHAEL BALSAMO and ASHRAF KHALIL

WASHINGTON (AP) — The obstruction astir the Capitol is backmost up. The District of Columbia’s constabulary section is astatine the ready. The U.S. Capitol Police person requested assistance from adjacent instrumentality enforcement agencies including the National Guard.

The Capitol Police person taken nary chances for Saturday’s rally astatine the Capitol successful enactment of rioters imprisoned aft the convulsive Jan. 6 insurrection. They’re moving to debar a repetition of the pre-inauguration attack.

An hr earlier the lawsuit was to begin, arsenic euphony started blaring from the speakers, the fewer demonstrators successful spot were vastly outnumbered by the media and a dense constabulary presence.

A licence for the protestation allows 700 people, but constabulary were acrophobic astir convulsive protesters and counterprotesters. Police were besides preparing for the anticipation that immoderate demonstrators whitethorn get with weapons, though backpacks were allowed into the country and determination were nary checkpoints.

Police warned demonstrators up of clip nary weapons were allowed, and they were not to aquatics successful the reflecting pools.

On Saturday morning, constabulary were already moving to abstracted the fistful of Trump supporters and counterprotesters who had arrived hours earlier the rally was expected to footwear off. Law enforcement officers geared up astatine a staging country arsenic ample dump trucks and cement barricades lined the streets astir the Capitol, extracurricular of the fenced area.

Persistent attempts to rewrite the communicative of the unit and panic of Jan. 6, and the expanding volatility down the prevarication that the 2020 predetermination was stolen, person made it intolerable to foretell what whitethorn hap this weekend. After all, instrumentality enforcement was lone expecting a escaped code protestation the time Trump supporters stormed the Capitol successful an effort to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.

Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said astatine a quality league Friday it was hard to accidental whether threats of unit astatine the lawsuit were credible, but “chatter” online and elsewhere has been akin to quality that was missed successful January.

The rally, organized by erstwhile Trump run staffer Matt Braynard, is aimed astatine supporting radical who were detained aft the Jan. 6 insurrection — astir 63 radical held down bars retired of the much than 600 charged successful the deadly riot. It’s conscionable the latest effort to downplay and contradict the January violence.

Intelligence collected earlier the rally has suggested that extremist groups specified arsenic the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers volition crook up. But immoderate salient members of the groups person sworn they aren’t going and person told others not to attend. Far-right online chatter has been mostly tame, and Republican lawmakers are downplaying the event.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved a petition for astir 100 members of the D.C. National Guard to beryllium stationed astatine a metropolis armory adjacent the Capitol, to beryllium called if needed arsenic backup. They’ll beryllium without firearms, but volition beryllium equipped with batons and protective vests for self-defense.

Congress is retired of league and nary lawmakers were expected to beryllium successful the gathering Saturday. Biden was successful Delaware for the weekend.

Many commenters connected online platforms similar Telegram that are fashionable with the acold close disavowed the rally, saying they believed instrumentality enforcement was promoting the lawsuit to entrap Trump supporters. Some urged their followers not to be an lawsuit they said was secretly organized by the FBI.

At the aforesaid time, however, immoderate commenters continued to beforehand rallies planned successful cities and authorities capitals crossed the country.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is inactive utilizing his level arsenic the astir fashionable person successful the GOP to explicit sympathy for those who were arrested and proceed spreading predetermination misinformation, ratcheting up his attacks arsenic the week wore on.

The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of tribunal and jailhouse records for the Capitol riot defendants to uncover however galore were being detained and recovered astir 63 held successful national custody awaiting proceedings oregon sentencing hearings. Federal officials are inactive looking for different suspects who could besides upwind up down bars.

At slightest 30 are jailed successful Washington. The remainder are locked up successful facilities crossed the country. They person said they are being treated unfairly, and 1 suspect said helium was beaten.

Federal authorities person identified respective of those detained arsenic extremist radical leaders, members oregon associates, including 9 defendants linked to the Proud Boys and 3 connected to the antigovernment Oath Keepers. Dozens are charged with conspiring to equine coordinated attacks connected the Capitol to artifact Congress from certifying the 2020 Electoral College vote, among the astir superior of the charges.

Some jailed defendants are charged with assaulting constabulary officers, others with making convulsive threats. A fewer were freed aft their arrests but subsequently detained again, accused of violating merchandise conditions.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has acceptable standards for judges to use successful deciding whether to jailhouse a Capitol riot defendant. A three-judge sheet of the appeals tribunal ruled successful March that rioters accused of assaulting officers, breaking done windows, doors and barricades, oregon playing enactment roles successful the onslaught were successful “a antithetic class of dangerousness” than those who simply cheered connected the unit oregon entered the gathering aft it was breached.

But it’s unclear however the cases for the bulk of those charged volition end. On Friday, a California pistillate who joined the mob avoided a situation word erstwhile a national justice sentenced her to probation, an result fitting an aboriginal signifier successful the Jan. 6 riot prosecutions.

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Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman, Mary Clare Jalonick, Jacques Billeaud, David Klepper, Lisa Mascaro, Jake Bleiberg, Amanda Seitz, Nathan Ellgren and Robert Burns contributed to this report.