On the 18th (local time), two days before the inauguration of the next US President Biden, the inauguration ceremony was held in Washington, DC, with a strict vigilance reminiscent of a battlefield.
Many areas of downtown Washington DC have been blocked.
The roads around the White House and the Capitol, the site of the inauguration, were closed, and the main site was surrounded by iron fences.
CBS broadcasted, “As the week of President-elect Biden’s inauguration began, Washington DC turned into a fortress.”
CNN also said Washington DC, as well as state governments, were in an emergency posture until their inauguration. Especially over the weekend, Washington DC’s streets have been further fortified, surrounded by fences and state defense forces.
According to a spokesman for the National Guard, by the evening of the previous day, 17,000 troops had been deployed.
Earlier, there were reports that Washington DC will have 20,000 state defense forces, more than twice as many as Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration ceremony, which raised concerns about terrorism with the birth of the first black president, and that it will increase to 25,000.
The Department of Defense has allowed up to 25,000 troops to be deployed at the inauguration ceremony, CNN said.
“It’s like a battlefield.”
The National Mall, a landmark around the parliament, is mostly closed and many monuments and buildings are inaccessible.
The area around the National Mall is also under extreme control, with only authorized people and vehicles being moved.
“It is unprecedented and almost surreal,” said Mark Licurst, spokesman for the National Park Service (NPS), as a step toward ensuring a peaceful regime change.
According to the Washington Post (WP), due to concerns about the safety of the inauguration ceremony, the National Passenger Railroad Corporation (Amtrak) has also suspended some trains near Washington, DC.
Amtrak says trains in the northeastern United States will be shut down at Union Station on the 19th and 20th.
Passengers with tickets to Virginia will need to adjust their travel plans.
According to CNN, the police and federal agencies that help patrol the inauguration ceremony have reported seven arrests in Washington, DC for the inauguration ceremony since the 15th.
Two were arrested by the police and five were arrested by federal agencies.
The previous morning, a man with a firearm was arrested at a security checkpoint near the Capitol.
On the 16th, a woman was arrested for impersonating a law enforcement officer.
In addition, three suspicious parcels were reported in Washington, DC, and authorities took action, CNN said.
On the morning of the 18th, a fire broke out nearby during the rehearsal of the inauguration ceremony, causing the Capitol to be temporarily closed and people to evacuate.
The Presidential Secret Service (SS), who was in charge of guarding the inauguration ceremony, said in an article on Twitter that a small fire broke out near the Capitol and then extinguished it. “He explained.
CNN said there were only small protests over the weekend as authorities raised the level of alert after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warns of possible armed protests by far-right groups across the United States, but officials said they were staying vigilant ahead of the inauguration ceremony.