Many more guards, police than protesters at the Utah Capitol

Many more guards, police than protesters at the Utah Capitol

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(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) One of a dozen protesters carrying an upside-down flag at the Utah Capitol on Sunday, January 17, 2021.

The Utah Capitol remained safe Sunday.

Although federal law enforcement warned about armed demonstrations at Capitols across the country following the pro-Trump attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, only about 15 protesters showed up on the lawn of Utah’s Statehouse. Even the number is generous.
The bulk of Sunday’s demonstration was the spectators above the extremist Boogaloo Bois who organized the protest. The only pre-Trump presence was a handful of men waving silent flags for hours in support of defeated President Donald Trump. Bystanders posed for selfies, walked with their dogs and sat with their children and drank lattes and watched the scene unfold.
Not to mention the numerous troops of law enforcers and the national guard who stood next to the building, about 50 of whom stood at the south entrance of the Capitol at all times, ready for an assault that never did not come.

If it had not been for the police and the warning strip around the building and the small group of armed protesters, it could have been any other unusual Sunday afternoon in January.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) George Zinn responds to a woman who said derogatory remarks about President Donald Trump at the Utah Capitol, where a dozen protesters gathered on Sunday, January 17, 2021.

As Howard Medrano, a tourist who happened during the demonstration, said: ‘It’s a beautiful day to protest, but I think we’re just going to have a beautiful day without much protest – and it’s a good thing. ‘

The eight Boogaloos, who organized the event and did not want to give their names, called the massive presence of law enforcers a ‘joke’ while standing with guns just south of the Capitol entrance. They wore brightly colored Hawaiian shirts, a wardrobe for their movement, and held up two flags and two signs. When a news helicopter circled overhead, they lifted their signs into the air.

“Are you prepared enough for this situation?” shouted one through a megaphone to the Utah Highway Patrol troops.

Utah officials have locked up the Capitol and other government buildings after federal lawmakers warned of the possibility of violence in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Salt Lake City’s FBI field office said it had not received any ‘specific’ or ‘substantiated’ threats of violence here, but that it was in an ‘elevated stance’ and set up a command post on the Utah Capitol site. .
The Utah National Guard, Utah Highway Patrol and other local law enforcement officers were also called. Government Spencer Cox on Thursday declared a state of emergency over the possible violence over this protest or others they expect so far and the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

“Today’s protest was peaceful and law-abiding, certainly the preference, and we hope it will remain so for weeks to come,” Jennifer Napier-Pearce, spokeswoman for the governors’ office, said Sunday. “The presence of the Utah Highway Patrol and the Utah National Guard has ensured the safety of our Capitol, and we are grateful for their service.”

Cox tweeted that Sunday’s result was ” our best case because many outraged groups canceled their plans and the coming things were peaceful. ‘

Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Nick Street said that although the protest turned into a ‘non-event’, the large police and military presence was important.

He said police learned of the planned protests on social media posts on ‘fringe’ sites in the days following the January 6 attack, but most were shut down when the protests took place on Sunday.

“We could not take it seriously,” he said. “We just could not. We would ‘be afraid if we do, afraid if we do not’. Every state goes through what Utah did. ”

According to Street, officials are likely to reduce the number of police patrolling the Capitol, which is still closed, in the coming days. However, there will be some security as the legislature in Utah begins its annual session on Tuesday.

Street said the extra heavy measures recently taken were due to ‘the specific day surrounded in our calendars’, which was Sunday.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) National Guard troops on Sunday, January 17, 2021 at the State Capitol in Salt Lake City.

The protest remained peaceful for the entire three hours that the Boogaloos stood on the Capitol site, telling the deviant police and troop versions at intervals: ‘This whole thing is a joke.’

They meant the police and media presence, but for the Boogaloos who protested on Sunday, even their organization is a bit of a joke, born out of an internet meme that, according to them, became real because people treated it that way.

The group told the story of Duncan Lemp, a 21-year-old who became a martyr for many anti-government extremist groups after being killed by police during an early-morning gun attack without a warrant, reports The Washington Post. . They also talked about the importance of coming together as citizens – regardless of the political commitment – against an oppressive government.

One carried a sign pleading against qualified immunity and police unions. The others apologized to whistleblower Edward Snowden, the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange and Ross William Ulbricht, the creator of the now-disappearing dark web market Silk Road.

Many passers-by, however, did not take the protesters too seriously. Some passing motorists mistakenly assumed it was a pro-Trump rally while shouting ‘F — Trump’. The Boogaloos called Trump a ‘dictator’ and rejected the deaths of both George Floyd and Ashli ​​Babbitt, who were killed by Capitol police during the January 6 riot.

Towards the end of the protest, a woman held a boombox above her head and repeated the song “FDT” (meaning F — Donald Trump) by YG and Nipsey Hussle. The Boogaloos responded by announcing again that they did not support the president.

“Can you please change it to NWA’s F — tha Police ‘?” asks a Boogaloo over a megaphone.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Members of the Bois of Liberty at the State Capitol in Salt Lake City on Sunday, January 17, 2021.

One spectator, who identified himself only as Colin, sat on the grass with his family and dogs, saying that it seemed to him that those protesting were just trying to spot by the dozens of journalists wandering around the Capitol grounds.

“They’re looking for attention,” he said.

When Shylah Poirier and her husband approached the site with their two girls and dogs on a family hunter, they hesitated to get closer to the southern stairs.

“I really did not want to walk to the property,” she said, “especially with the children.”

Eventually she thought it would be a good lesson for her children to see that groups of people have different beliefs and space to share them quietly.

The girls walk up to the southern stairs, a few feet from the yellow police line, take a photo near a beehive statue for the scavenger and leave.

About an hour later the Boogaloos also leave.

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