National Guard troops flooding in as Washington locks down

WASHINGTON (AP):

All through downtown Washington, the primary sound for several blocks was the beeping of forklifts unloading more fencing.

There were no cars or scooters and seemingly no tourists on Wednesday, just the occasional jogger and multiple construction crews at work. The US Capitol, which proved such a soft target last week, was visible only through lines of tall, black fence.

Two blocks from the White House, a group of uniformed National Guard troops emerged from a tour bus and headed into a hotel as a state of lockdown descended on Washington that will last through to the January 20 inauguration. The number of National Guard troops coming to Washington to assist law enforcement with security has grown to about 26,000, officials said on Thursday.

“Clearly, we are in uncharted waters,” said Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Last week’s “violent insurrection” at the Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump has “impacted the way we are approaching working with our federal partners in planning for the 59th inauguration,” Bowser said Wednesday.

The FBI has warned that armed protests by violent Trump supporters were being planned in all 50 state capitals, as well as in Washington, for the days leading up to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

Between the pandemic and the security threat, Bowser is flat-out asking people not to come to the District of Columbia for the inauguration. And at Bowser’s request, a National Special Security Event (NSSE) declaration was moved up to January 13, a distinction she said “puts in place an entirely different command-and-control structure” for security.

The NSSE status is normal for a presidential inauguration and other major events, like an international summit or the Super Bowl. But it’s rare to start the lockdown so far in advance of the event.

Police vehicles sealed off a huge swathe of downtown DC on Wednesday, causing immediate traffic snarls. Starting Wednesday, Bowser said, anyone inside the inauguration perimeter might be stopped and questioned. Starting Friday, all parking garages in the downtown restricted zone will be sealed through to the inauguration. Bowser is asking DC residents to avoid the downtown area entirely, and the city announced that 13 Metro stations inside the security perimeter will shut down for several days.