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A2 UP FRONT
Monday 18 January 2021

Small numbers of protesters gather at fortified U.S. capitols

Continued from Front way into building while pected to arrive in the city
Congress was certifying the in the coming days.
Security was stepped up Electoral College vote. The roughly 20 protesters
in recent days after the FBI The attack left a Capitol who showed up at Michi-
warned of the potential for Police officer and four oth- gan's Capitol, including
armed protests in Wash- ers dead. More than 125 some who were armed,
ington and at all 50 state people have been arrest- were significantly outnum-
capitol buildings ahead of ed on charges related to bered by law enforcement
President-elect Joe Biden's the insurrection. officers and media.
inauguration on Wednes- Dozens of courts, state At the Ohio Statehouse,
day. election officials and about two dozen people,
Crowds of only a dozen or Trump's own attorney gen- including several carrying
two people demonstrat- eral have all said there long guns, protested out-
ed at some boarded-up, was no evidence of wide- side under the watchful
cordoned-off statehouses, spread election fraud. eyes of state troopers be-
while the streets in many Dale Gibson, of Jackson, Miss., shows off the banner he planned On Sunday, some state- fore dispersing as it began
other capital cities re- to hold as a counter-protester if a pro-Trump rally materialized houses were surrounded to snow.
mained empty. Some pro- Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021. by new protective fences, Kathy Sherman, who was
testers said they were there Associated Press had boarded-up windows wearing a visor with "Trump"
to back President Donald wore on with no bloodshed "I would love to say that it's and were patrolled by ex- printed on it, said she sup-
Trump. Others said they around the U.S., a sense because we've all taken a tra police. Legislatures gen- ports the president but
had instead come to voice of relief spread among of- sober look in the mirror and erally were not in session distanced herself from the
their support for gun rights ficials, though they were have decided that we are over the weekend. mob that breached the
or oppose government not ready to let their guard a more unified people than Tall fences also surrounded U.S. Capitol.
overreach. down. The heavy law en- certain moments in time the U.S. Capitol. The Na- "I'm here to support the
"I don't trust the results of the forcement presence may would indicate," he said. tional Mall was closed to right to voice a political
election," said Michigan have kept turnout down. The security measures the public, and the mayor view or opinion without
protester Martin Szelag, a In the past few days, some were intended to safe- of Washington asked peo- fear of censorship, harass-
67-year-old semi-retired extremists had warned oth- guard seats of government ple not to visit. Some 25,000 ment or the threat of losing
window salesman from ers against falling into what from the type of violence National Guard troops from my job or being physically
Dearborn Heights. He wore they called a law enforce- that broke out at the U.S. around the country are ex- assaulted," she said. q
a sign around his neck that ment trap. Capitol on Jan. 6, when
read, in part, "We will sup- Washington State Patrol far-right Trump supporters
port Joe Biden as our Presi- spokesman Chris Loftis galvanized by his unproven
dent if you can convince said he hoped the appar- claims that the election
us he won legally. Show us ently peaceful day reflect- had been stolen from him
the proof! Then the heal- ed some soul-searching overran the outnumbered
ing can begin." As the day among Americans. police and bashed their

President-elect Joe Biden campaigns in Atlanta, Monday,
Jan. 4, 2021, for Senate candidates Raphael Warnock, right,
and Jon Ossoff, left.
Associated Press
Tribute to King, rebuke of
demagogues in Warnock sermon

ATLANTA (AP) — A day before the nation's annual
holiday celebrating life of the Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr., Sen.-elect Raphael Warnock of Georgia returned
to the pulpit at the church that was King's spiritual
home, calling for the nation to adhere to "God's vision
of equity." Warnock's wide-ranging holiday message
included a tribute to King and a remembrance of his
last days organizing an anti-poverty crusade before
he was gunned down in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.
"The tragedy is that the minimum wage had more pur-
chasing power in 1968 than the minimum wage does
in 2021," he said at one point.
Warnock decried the pain and death of the COVID-19
pandemic. And he called the Jan. 6 attack on the
Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump, "an
unthinkable attack on the very house of the people
by those who are driven by the worst impulses, stirred
up by demagogues."q