Thousands of maskless protesters gathered Saturday in Washington D.C. and heard Alex Jones and General Mike Flynn falsely claim the election was stolen from Trump ahead of Monday’s electoral college making Biden’s win official.
Proud Boys and counter-protesters were mostly peaceful during the day but became more agitated as night fell with widespread clashes between the two groups. Proud Boys marched in military-like lines shouting “move out” and “1776.” Police were attempting to keep the two separated with bike lines.
“Both sides of the aisle hate you now. Congratulations,” a Proud Boy shouted at the officers.
By 9pm there were four people stabbed, critically injured. A 29-year-old man has been arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon in connection to the four stabbings. It’s unclear which groups the attackers or victims were from.
D.C. police said that as of 9 p.m., 23 people were arrested Saturday, including 10 who were charged with misdemeanor assaults, six with assaulting police officers and four with rioting. Police said one person had an illegal Taser.
Meanwhile in Michigan on Monday, a police escort is expected to protect the state’s 16 electors as they are transported to the state capitol to cast their votes for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Members of Stop The Steal have said they plan to protest outside the Capitol in Lansing even though the Capitol Building Commission decided to close the building to the public on Monday.
Michigan is an open carry state and previous demonstrations have included armed protesters.
NYT and the Independent