By Aiyeku Timothy
Donald Trump’s supporters are suspected to be planning a fresh street agitation ahead of the Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20.
This is after some of the protesters, vowed to continue the protest, in claims that the election was won by Trump against the Electoral College vote counting that declared Biden the winner.
“Many of Us will return on January 19, 2021, carrying Our weapons, in support of Our nation’s resolve, to which [sic] the world will never forget!!!” one person wrote on Parler, a site friendly to right-wing extremists.
“We will come in numbers that no standing army or police agency can match.”
Also, various virtual fliers circulating on social media promise an “armed march” on Capitol Hill and in every state capital a few days before the inauguration while others promise violence on Inauguration Day itself.
One post encourages supporters to meet in D.C. specifically to prevent President-elect Joe Biden from entering the White House.
Meanwhile, Raja Krishnamoorthi representing Illinois had stated that “What happened on Jan. 6, this past Wednesday, might not be the end of the insurrection, but the beginning.”
“We need to be concerned,” said Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat who is a member of the House Intelligence committee.
Krishnamoorthi says he didn’t anticipate how large the crowd outside the Capitol would become or that “the president would incite this mob to march on the Capitol to ‘go wild’ and instigate the insurrection.”
“But we, at this point, have to be wiser to what’s possible — and we have to prepare accordingly,” he said. “Our democracy will be OK; we just have to defend the Constitution and our country at all costs, at this point.”
This development is the reason Twitter permanently suspended President Trump’s account. “Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021,” Twitter wrote.
Twitter was particularly concerned by a Trump tweet indicating he wouldn’t attend the inauguration. That message “may also serve as encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts that the Inauguration would be a ‘safe’ target.”
Nevertheless, Biden still plans to be inaugurated on the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 20.
“We are confident in our security partners who have spent months planning and preparing for the inauguration, and we are continuing to work with them to ensure the utmost safety and security of the president-elect,” a senior Biden inauguration official told The Washington Post.
