From across the country, supporters of Donald Trump gathered in the center of the federal capital on Wednesday for a show of force as Congress must certify its presidential defeat.
Le Monde avec AFP
“We want Trump”, “Stop the theft”: thousands of supporters of Donald Trump met, Wednesday, January 6, in downtown Washington for a show of force as Congress must certify its presidential defeat.
“We will never give up. We will never concede [defeat]” , launched the American president in front of them, under a sky laden with heavy clouds, two weeks before the assumption of office of Democrat Joe Biden. “We won this election, and we won it largely,” he said, against all evidence and despite the lack of evidence supporting the hypothesis of electoral fraud.
Increasingly isolated, Donald Trump has attacked with virulence his own Republican camp. The Republican tenors are “weak” and “pathetic”, he launched in front of his supporters, the White House in the background.
Defying the sanitary instructions, these men and women come from all the United States were waiting with their faces unmasked, for them to address them from the Ellipse, an esplanade located south of the White House. The outgoing president, who continues to deny the victory of his Democratic rival, for days encouraged his supporters to march in Washington for this day which will be “crazy”, he warned.
“Trump is my president”
Crossed by Agence France-Presse, Gail, 76, explains that she came from New Jersey on purpose because she “no longer respects the electoral system”. “We’re going to get back to our nation!”
Originally from Oregon, on the West Coast, Katherine Caldwell, 61 years old, and her husband rode for five days to support him in his crusade. “They stole the election,” “I’m absolutely sure of it,” she said. Moreover, the senatorial elections in Georgia the day before also saw “cheating”, she assures, while the Democrats seem poised to win the two seats necessary to regain control of the Senate. “They used the fraudulent machines again, the people in Georgia are corrupt,” assures the woman, wearing a white cowboy hat who waves a large red flag crossed out “Trump is my president”.
For fear of possible overflows, businesses have again installed wooden signs on their windows, several roads have been cut off to traffic and the local authorities have invited the population to stay at home. Members of the National Guard were deployed as early as Tuesday and police, who already arrested the far-right militia leader Proud Boys on Monday, said they would not tolerate any breach of the port restrictions. guns. Previous protests had been peppered with violence, especially during clashes with counter-demonstrators.
Beyond the base, dozens of elected Republican members of the House and Senate remain loyal to Donald Trump and promised to make their doubts resound in the precincts of Congress, which must officially record the vote of the big voters on Wednesday: 306 for Joe Biden, 232 for Donald Trump. Their objections won’t derail this procedure, the last before the Democrat’s January 20 oath, but could slow it down.