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Trump ready to take oath, tight security in Washington

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Published: 15:36, 20 January 2017   Update: 15:18, 26 July 2020
Trump ready to take oath, tight security in Washington

Donald Trump with his wife Melania

International Desk: Donald Trump, the real estate mogul and reality television star who upended American politics and energized voters angry with Washington, will be sworn in Friday as the 45th president of the United States, putting Republicans in control of the White House for the first time in eight years.

It will cap an unlikely and historic rise for a man who has never before served in government. Taking the nation's highest office and with Republicans in both houses of Congress, Trump will get his chance to fulfill his campaign slogan to make America great again.

Washington has turned into a virtual fortress ahead of Donald Trump's presidential inauguration.

Around 900,000 people will flood Washington for the inauguration ceremony, which includes the swearing-in on the steps of the US Capitol and a parade to the White House along streets thronged with spectators.

More than 100 square blocks - about 2.7 square miles - will be closed to automobile traffic on Friday as federal, state and local authorities create a protective bubble around the swearing-in ceremony, presidential festivities and opposition protests. The final tab is reportedly more than $100 million.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said that around 28,000 in personnel from the US Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration, FBI, US Park Police, US Capitol Police, Coast Guard and local police from Washington and around the nation would be fanned out across the city to provide multiple layers of security.

Johnson said that despite the absence of a 'specific, credible threat,' the main focus will be on 'individual acts of violent extremism and those who self-radicalize,' as have been seen in recent attacks in France and Germany.

He explained that dump trucks and buses will be placed in strategic locations to block off large gatherings of pedestrians.

On Thursday afternnon, police responded to reports of a 'suspicious package' on 14th Street. An explosives technician was sent to investigate the claim and police cleared the scene shortly after.

The number of planned protests and rallies this year is far above what has been typical at recent presidential inaugurations.

Homeland Security Secretary Johnson said police aimed to keep groups separate, using similar tactics as employed during last year's political conventions.

'The concern is some of these groups are pro-Trump, some of them are con-Trump, and they may not play well together in the same space,' Johnson said on MSNBC.

About 30 groups totaling 270,000 people have received permits to stage demonstrations, both for and against the New York businessman in Washington around the inauguration.

That number includes some 200,000 people who police say they expect to attend Saturday's Women's March on Washington, an anti-Trump protest.

Bikers for Trump, a group that designated itself as security backup during last summer's Republican National Convention in Cleveland, is ready to step in if protesters block access to the inauguration, said Dennis Egbert, one of the group's organizers.

'We're going to be backing up law enforcement. We're on the same page,' Egbert, 63, a retired electrician from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said at the group's site along the parade route.

A protest group known as Disrupt J20 has vowed to stage demonstrations at each of 12 security checkpoints and block access to the festivities on the grassy National Mall.

Police and security officials have pledged repeatedly to guarantee protesters' constitutional rights to free speech and peaceable assembly.

Aaron Hyman, fellow at the National Gallery of Art, said he could feel tension in the streets ahead of Trump's swearing-in and the heightened security was part of it.

'People are watching each other like, 'You must be a Trump supporter,' and 'You must be one of those liberals,'' said Hyman, 32, who supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November election.

Anti-Trump protester will stage at a rally in New York on Thursday evening. Mayor Bill de Blasio, filmmaker Michael Moore and actor Alec Baldwin, who portrays Trump on 'Saturday Night Live,' will take part in the event outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower.

One of the Washington protests will feature a haze of pot smoke as pro-marijuana activists light up to show their opposition to Trump's choice for attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions, a critic of legalization.

Friday's crowds are expected to fall well short of the 2 million people who attended Obama's first inauguration in 2009, and be in line with the 1 million who were at his second in 2013.

Security officials have eased a ban on umbrellas at the ceremony due to a rainy weather forecast, allowing people to use small umbrellas.

Source: Agencies

 

risingbd/Dhaka/Jan 20, 2017/A K Azad

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