Washington DC seals off streets for Donald Trump’s inauguration crowds
Washington, Jan 20 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) US law enforcement personnel are on high alert and have closed many roads in Washington, DC, as the capital city prepares for an inflow of inauguration crowds.
Many streets around the Capitol, the White House, Capital One Arena, and areas in between have been sealed off with fences or barricades for a few days or longer.
On Sunday afternoon, workers were still erecting fences, especially around Capital One Arena, as the inauguration address, prayers and other speeches were announced to be relocated inside the Capitol Rotunda.
The relocation made Capital One Arena an important platform where US President-elect Donald Trump held a rally on Sunday and would meet his supporters shortly after the inauguration ceremony on Monday.
The safety perimetre around Capital One Arena was expanded, and additional checkpoints were established to prevent a recurrence of the recent terror attack in New Orleans, according to a local report quoting Matt McCool, the US Secret Service special agent in charge of the Washington field office, Xinhua news agency reported.
Besides police officers, National Guard units were heavily present around Capital One Arena, where approximately 20,000 attendees gathered for a Trump rally.
Four subway stations will be fully closed on Monday, and various bridges and ramps from Virginia to Washington, DC, could also be closed on Inauguration Day.
Twenty-five thousand law enforcement personnel are reportedly on duty for public safety during the inauguration process.
People waited in line for hours to attend the rally, which stretched over a mile. However, thousands could not enter due to limited capacity, and some chose to leave as rain and snow began falling on the capital in the afternoon.
Trump will be sworn in at noon on Monday with the temperature to be around minus five degrees Celsius.
Leah Aguanno, a Trump supporter from Westfield, New Jersey, waited hours in line on Sunday, holding a Trump-Vance flag.
“Even though the weather is bad, I’m still happy to be here to be part of this. It’s a moment in history, and I’m expecting great changes and many orders to be reversed tomorrow after Trump is in office,” said Aguanno.
Aguanno told Xinhua she hoped that Trump would lift the ban on TikTok and work something out with China regarding the wildly popular social media platform.
“I think TikTok has changed a lot of people’s lives and gave a lot of people a purpose,” said Aguanno.
Chazz Hanson, another Trump supporter from Pickens County, Georgia, told Xinhua he got a ticket to Capital One Arena on Monday to watch Trump’s inauguration address live.
Hanson was optimistic that Trump would make necessary changes, noting that the past three years have been challenging.
