Security barriers, planks on store windows, visible police presence: ahead of the presidential election on Tuesday, the city of Washington is preparing for any eventuality of violence, keeping in mind the events that shook it four years ago. years.
Authorities in the US capital have warned that a “shifting and unpredictable security environment” could be expected in the days and even weeks following the closing of polling stations, adding that they do not expect not for a winner to be proclaimed on the day of the election.
The specter of January 6, 2021 still hangs over the city: that day, hundreds of supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, temple of American democracy, to try to prevent the certification of Joe’s victory Biden.
“In many ways, our preparations for 2024 began on January 7, 2021,” said Christopher Rodriguez, a city official, during a city council meeting last week.
Even before the assault on the Capitol, Washington had been shaken by violent demonstrations during the anti-racist Black Lives Matter protest movement in the summer of 2020.
For his third candidacy for the presidential election, Donald Trump has refused to commit to accepting the results of the election, and is already advancing – without foundation – the existence of electoral fraud and cheating in key states such as the Pennsylvania.
Enough to pave the way for new civil unrest.
Disinformation
A few steps from the White House on Friday, workers were hammering wooden planks to affix them to the windows of several businesses.
For several weeks, a security barrier has also largely cut off access to one of the squares in front of the presidential residence.
Barricades have been erected as construction workers work in unusually mild temperatures. They are building one of the platforms that will be used during the ceremonies around the inauguration of the new president in January.
Work traditionally begins in November, but on January 6, 2021, workers had to evacuate the construction site.
So this year, the National Park Service said work would begin a month earlier “to allow the additional time needed for a safer environment.”
“I’m disappointed, because we wanted to take a photo in front of the White House,” a tourist told AFP in Lafayette Park. Wearing a pearl necklace in tribute to Kamala Harris, she came from Texas for Saturday’s Women’s March, a demonstration for women’s rights.
During last week’s city council meeting, Christopher Rodriguez particularly warned against misinformation on social media that could affect public safety in the US capital.
Geopolitical events like the conflict in Gaza add “a layer of complexity” that “could lead to political violence,” he said.
Show of force
The federal police, the FBI, announced that they were setting up a command center to monitor these threats while the Secret Service, responsible for protecting senior political figures, declared that it would strengthen its security system if necessary.
The Capitol Police, many of whose officers were injured during the events of January 6, 2021, declined to comment on their preparations. Mayor Muriel Bowser, however, said at a press conference in October that this police department dedicated to congressional security would be “ready.”
No “credible threat” targeting Washington during the period around the election has been identified, assured the city’s police chief, Pamela Smith.
Peaceful demonstrations will be allowed, she declared, before adding: “we will not tolerate any violence”.
The police chief promised a “visible” show of force in the city over the coming weeks, with a peak of 4,000 reinforcements on January 20, the day of the presidential inauguration.
On Friday, tourists admired the view from the Ellipse, the park on the other side of the White House where Donald Trump addressed his supporters on January 6, 2021 before the assault on the Capitol.
“Look at all the guns,” one of the tourists murmured, pointing to Secret Service agents standing silently at the barricades.
