Washington-SANA
With the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden approaching on the 20th of this month, the US states are witnessing a state of high security alert in anticipation of armed protests by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.
Security concerns warned of by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) prompted law enforcement and security agencies to close local congressional buildings across the country today in anticipation of possible violent protests from Trump supporters who, instigated by him, stormed the Capitol building in Washington, DC.
Several states mobilized their National Guard to help secure the Congressional headquarters in each of them, in the wake of the FBI's warning of armed protests by right-wing extremists driven by Trump's continued refusal to acknowledge his defeat in the presidential elections under the pretext of rigging the results in addition to the bloody attack on the US Congress building in Washington in The sixth of this January.
“After the blockade of the Congress building in our state and the reports of threats to state capitals, I decided to mobilize all resources to protect our residents and the democratic process,” Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker wrote on Twitter today, adding that he is mobilizing the state police and National Guard to protect the capital, Springfield.
Hundreds of law enforcement officials and National Guard troops deployed around the Congress building in Atlanta, Georgia, and the area was cordoned off with barbed wire and concrete barriers, while several armored vehicles were stationed nearby.
In Lansing, Michigan, security forces began setting up barricades to close the streets around the Congress building, in addition to intensifying police patrols, while other states, including Pennsylvania, Texas and Kentucky, took more measures to close areas and streets leading to the Legislative Council buildings.
