‘Fortress Washington’ prepares to greet Trump’s inauguration
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WASHINGTON will turn into a virtual fortress ahead of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration today as the US capital braces for more than a quarter-million protesters expected during the Republican’s swearing-in.
Police have forecast that some 900,000 people, both supporters and opponents, will flood Washington for the inauguration ceremony, which includes the swearing-in on the steps of the US Capitol and a parade to the White House along streets thronged with spectators.
Many of those attending will be protesters irate about the New York real estate developer’s demeaning comments about women, immigrants and Muslims, a vow to repeal the sweeping health care reform law known as Obamacare and plans to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
His supporters admire Trump’s experience in business, including as a real estate developer and reality television star, and view him as an outsider and problem-solver.
Outgoing US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said police aim to separate groups to diffuse tensions, similar to last-year’s political conventions.
“The concern is some of these groups are pro-Trump, some of them are anti-Trump, and they may not play well together in the same space,” Johnson said on MSNBC yesterday.
About 28,000 security personnel, kilometers of fencing, roadblocks, street barricades and dump trucks laden with sand will be part of the security cordon around 8 square kilometers of central Washington.
About 30 groups that organizers claim will draw about 270,000 protesters or Trump backers have received permits for rallies or marches before, during and after the swearing-in. More are expected without permits.
A protest group known as Disrupt J20 has vowed to stage demonstrations at each of 12 security checkpoints and block access to the festivities on the grassy National Mall.
By far the biggest protest will be the Women’s March on Washington tomorrow, which organizers expect to draw 250,000 people. Hundreds of Women’s March-related protests are scheduled across the US and around the world.
An anti-Trump protest was due in New York last night when Mayor Bill de Blasio, filmmaker Michael Moore and actors Mark Ruffalo and Alec Baldwin, who portrays Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” were to take part in a rally outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower.
One Washington protest will come amid a haze of pot smoke as pro-marijuana activists show their opposition to Trump’s choice for attorney general, Alabama Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, a critic of pot legalization.
The group plans to distribute 4,200 joints at the inauguration. Possession of small amounts of marijuana is legal in Washington. Public consumption is not.
Today’s crowds are expected to be less than the 2 million at Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, and in line with the million who were at his second.
In a sign of the Trump-related angst gripping Washington, the dean of the Washington National Cathedral said this week its choir would sing “God Bless America” at the inauguration despite misgivings by some members.
“Let me be clear: We are not singing for the President. We are singing for God because that is what church choirs do,” the Reverend Randolph Marshall Hollerith said in a letter.
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