The remarkable and shocking images of protestors storming the US Capitol and vandalizing the chambers of Congress transfixed the public.
However, the events in the nation’s capital were not the only demonstrations taking place throughout the country in opposition to widespread vote fraud.
a group of Trump supporters & militia gathering in front of the Georgia State Capitol building in Atlanta. some of them listening to President Trump’s speech live on their phones. pic.twitter.com/gSsBzsVByC
— Hadi Nili (@HadiNili) January 6, 2021
State capitols throughout the country—including Georgia, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona, Nevada, Ohio, California and Washington state—also saw protestors breach the buildings, according to the Post Millennial and other sources.
The protests occurred after the anger and outrage over the Nov. 3 election spilled over into the normally routine confirmation process.
Hundreds of people gathered, waving signs saying “Stop the steal” and “Four more years.”
There were some scuffles, including some instances of journalists or counterprotesters being pepper-sprayed or punched, but most demonstrations were peaceful, and only a few arrests were reported.
New Mexico police evacuated staff as a precaution from a statehouse building that includes the governor’s office and the secretary of state’s office, shortly after hundreds of flag-waving supporters arrived in a vehicle caravan and on horseback.
Demonstrators sang “God Bless America,” honked horns and wrongly announced on a megaphone that Trump was the rightful election winner.
News that protesters had breached the U.S. Capitol set off cheers at pro-Trump protests in Minnesota, Nevada and Arizona, where armed protesters marched at the capitol in Phoenix and several men displayed a guillotine.
The protests came a day after special elections in Georgia gave radical Democrats both of the once-conservative state’s seats and secured the Senate majority for Democrats.
The Georgia special election was, like the presidential election, fraught with irregularities, including reports of Dominion Voting Systems’ machines breaking down in Republican-heavy districts.
Georgia’s secretary of state and his staff evacuated their offices at the Capitol as about 100 protesters gathered outside, some armed with long guns.
Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his team decided to leave, according to Gabriel Sterling, a top official with Raffensperger’s office.
“We saw stuff happening at the Georgia Capitol and said we should not be around here, we should not be a spark,” Sterling told The Associated Press.
Trump has focused much of his ire on Raffensperger in the weeks following his loss by about 12,000 votes.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp slammed the storming of the U.S. Capitol, calling it “a disgrace and quite honestly un-American.”
Kemp said he was extending an executive order from protests over the summer activating the National Guard in case they are needed to protect the state Capitol on Monday when the legislative session begins.
In Washington state, protesters broke through a gate at the governor’s mansion and dozens of people gathered on the lawn for about 30 minutes before being cleared from the area.
The crowd, some of whom were armed, repeated baseless allegations of election fraud. The State Patrol said that Gov. Jay Inslee “and his family are in a safe location.”
Earlier, dozens of people gathered at the state Capitol, demanding a recount of the U.S. presidential election and Washington’s gubernatorial election, which Inslee, a Democrat, won by more than 500,000 votes. The Statehouse has been closed to the public for nearly a year due to the pandemic.
In Utah, the staff of Gov. Spencer Cox was sent home as several hundred people gathered in Salt Lake City, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson tweeted. Salt Lake Tribune photographer Rick Egan said he was pepper-sprayed by a demonstrator who taunted him for wearing a mask and shoved him as he was shooting video of the protest. It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was arrested.
At least one person was arrested at the Oregon Capitol in Salem on suspicion of harassment and disorderly conduct as police in riot gear tried to get people — many of them armed — to leave.
Video showed protesters and counterprotesters clashing and riot police moving in. But by midafternoon, only a few dozen people remained, their American flags and Trump banners drooping in the rain.
In Topeka, Kansas, chants of “Stop the steal” and “No more masks” faded as a rally ended and Trump supporters filed peacefully into the Statehouse building through security checkpoints, milling around historical exhibits.
In Honolulu, about 100 protesters lined the road outside the state Capitol waving American and Trump 2020 flags at passing cars. Sheryl Bieler, a retiree in the blue state, said she came out to “support our president and support the integrity of the elections.”
Trump supporters circled the state Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin, in cars and trucks adorned with Trump and U.S. flags for several hours Wednesday, blaring their horns.
In Colorado, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock ordered city agencies to close buildings after hundreds gathered in front of the Capitol building for a protest against the election results.
In South Carolina, protesters supporting Trump came to the Statehouse but left before the U.S. Capitol was breached.
Despite a curfew implemented by Washington, DC, mayor Muriel Bowser that was set to take effect at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, images showed many protestors remained gathered at the National Mall, playing music.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
