A member of the National Guard is seen patrolling around Washington D.C, in the wake of the Capitol incident last week. (Image via TRT World)

Ahead of Biden's inauguration, Washington D.C's security tightened

Ahead of the inauguration of the President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, on 20 January, the administrative capital of the U.S, Washington D.C., is being isolated and heavily guarded by more than 20,000 armed members of the National Guard. The measure followed the deadly Capitol Hill incident on Wednesday last week.

Acting Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., Robert Contee, said that the capital is facing a huge security threat when the supporters of President Donald Trump rushed to the Capitol building. They tried to cancel the inauguration of Biden as the 46th President of the USA. The incident took 5 lives.

As Congress is trying to impeach Trump for the second time due to the allegation that he supported the Capitol incident, there are more barricades and barb wires installed to prevent another demonstration. Moreover, traffic in the capital is also closed. Secret Service is also considering closing the National Mall. Usually, hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the grassy landscape of the National Mall to watch the inauguration.

Having received a worrisome leak of another potential attack, the local authorities also warned that the Trump supporters and extremists might also carry explosives. Moreover, the FBI's internal bulletin warned that an armed group planned to rush to the government offices in 50 states to cancel Biden's inauguration. Therefore, the FBI instructed all the police departments to watch the situation and keep the intelligence operation.

Some politicians also considered to evacuate themselves as they have received death threats. One of them was the Mayor of Washington D.C., Muriel Bowser. The Republicans, voting for Trump's impeachment on Wednesday, stated that they armed themselves afterward.

Source: https://bit.ly/3ssbPSc