Supporters of Donald Trump had called for a demonstration Monday, January 11 in front of Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco, California, to protest the closure of the outgoing president's account on this social network, but only a handful of them responded. , local media report.
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Posts posted over the weekend on a popular far-right internet forum TheDonald.win called on supporters of the ex-real estate mogul to rally outside the Twitter headquarters, with some asking attendees to rally behind. use plastic handcuffs to carry out
"citizen arrests"
, according to the daily
San Francisco Chronicle
.
Despite the fact that most Twitter employees have been telecommuting since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and their offices are virtually deserted, the San Francisco police took these threats seriously and deployed dozens of them on Monday morning. officers near the building, protected by security barriers.
According to numerous local media on site, only a handful of protesters and counter-protesters finally made the trip.
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“I don't like to be censored. And I have a feeling that conservative voices are being censored, ”
one of the Trumpists told KTVU television.
For his part, Kenneth Lundgreen, 71, held up a sign proclaiming
"Thwart Trump's coup attempts" and explained that he wanted to physically oppose a possible "agitated crowd"
, like the one who stormed the Capitol in Washington last week.
Shortly after the intrusion of supporters of Donald Trump in the precincts of the American Parliament, Twitter announced that it would close the latter's personal account, facing the
"risk of new incitement to violence"
.
Other platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, have in the process suspended the accounts of the billionaire conservative for an indefinite period.
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Donald Trump immediately accused Twitter of
"muzzling freedom of expression"
by preventing it from addressing its some 88 million subscribers.
This Twitter decision was strongly criticized by supporters of Donald Trump but also by various personalities outside the United States, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who deemed it
"problematic"
.