Social media users shared images of bags filled with bricks in Washington DC, indicating that they were intended to be used as weapons against Americans who rallied for President Donald Trump in the country’s capital on January 6, 2020. This is false: the material was used by a construction team and was removed on Wednesday.
The claims appeared on Twitter on January 5th. (here) and was later shared on Facebook (here, here, here and here). Some reports claim that the bricks were ‘stored on the street’ by Antifa (here), referring to a left-wing anti-fascist movement (here).
The posts came to light when protesters backing President Donald Trump gathered in the city ahead of a January 6 congressional meeting to confirm the victory of Joe Biden in November’s presidential election (here and here).
However, the bricks were not left on the street to be used as weapons. On Twitter, footage emerged of construction workers using the material later on Dec. 5, to which Washington DC’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) responded: “Thank you, the construction material has been removed.” (here)
A DCRA spokesman confirmed to Reuters in an email: “Construction personnel used the material to repair sidewalks. Given the first amendment activities that take place in that area of the district [referring to the protests], the construction material was removed. ”
The videos show DC’s Warner Theater across the street, the location is visible on Google Street View here! 3m7! 1e1! 3m5! 1sQTO2IKq2YgftCHu-RL47Lg! 2e0! 6s% 2F% 2Fgeo3.ggpht.com% 2Fcbk% 3Fpanoid% 3DQTO2IKq2YgftCHu-RL47Lg% 26output% 3Dthumbnail% 26cb_client% 3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps% 26thumb% 3D2% 26w% 3D203% 26h% 3D3% %9ogw 3D0% 26thumbfov1638! 3D4! is visible here! 3m6! 1e1! 3m4! 1soNxJgawJ9LpJIg0IVDTNsw! 2e0! 7i16384! 8i8192 (the same branch of the PNC bank is visible in the video, as well as the street nameplate), and the video posted on Twitter shows men working on street construction, here .
VERDICT
Untrue. The bags of bricks were not left in Washington to harm protesters, but rather by workers repairing the street. They were later removed by the district to prevent them from being abused during protests against Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.