Armored Tanks arrive in DC for Trump’s military birthday parade
Armored tanks have begun arriving ahead of Saturday’s celebrations as Washington, DC prepares for the 250th anniversary of the US Army.
The massive June 14th Army Parade and President Donald Trump declared that protests were planned on the same day in the country’s capital as tanks, armored vehicles and thousands of troops descended into Washington, D.C.
“This parade sets a very dangerous and ominous mood,” said Andy Zee, organizer of the “Garbage Fascism” march to the White House on the afternoon of June 14th, before the Army parade began.
Speaking in the oval office on June 10th, Trump said, “If protesters want to come out, they’ll meet with such great force.”
“This is people who hate our country,” he added.
Trump deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines in Los Angeles, cracking down on his administration’s ongoing protests against widespread deportation. Zee and others prepare to oppose the June 14th military parade say the moment is ripe.
“There is no precedent for this situation,” Zee said, comparing the parade, which falls on both the Army’s 250th anniversary and Trump’s birthday to “what Germany did in the 1930s.”
“You should not mistakenly say this is fascism.”
Some people protest outside of Washington, while others are not deterred
Law enforcement officials say they have already laid 18.5 miles of anti-scale fencing and 17 miles of bike rack concrete barriers in preparation for the parade. They will select everyone entering the National Mall with a 175 magnetometer, according to Matt McCool, a special agent responsible for the Secret Service’s Washington Field office. The drone patrols from above.
Many choose to protest outside the capital of the nation as part of the “king” protest. Organizers say there are over 1,700 demonstrations ongoing across multiple continents.
But others are not blocked from Washington. Four demonstrations, including “fascism,” including “denial fascism,” had applied for “first amendment” permission from the National Park Service on June 14th as of early June, according to documents shared with USA Today.
Another is, “Public protests against Trump and the war machinery will create up to 20,000 demonstrators at Meridian Hill Park, about 1.5 miles north of the White House.
“A military parade celebrating Trump and the military is an outrageous humiliation to the American people,” the group wrote in its permit application. The protest aims both Trump, who “blocks people’s democratic rights, our union rights, our immigrant slander, and social services” and “the greatest cog of the war machine,” as well as “the slander of immigrants, slandering immigrants.”
“As many security checks possible”
Other planned permission organizers — who say to demonstrate peacefully — have taken additional security precautions.
Around the reflecting pool next to the Lincoln Memorial before the parade began, Marcus Anthony Hunter, who leads the “ritual walk” of the National Black Justice Collective, said organizers had thoroughly consulted with security to stay within the rules.
“You can have as many security checks as possible and go against what you don’t expect,” he said.
The walk organizers originally planned to meet at the Washington memorial, but were deterred when law enforcement released a new security map that had been made “unfeasible,” Hunter said. The group’s permission originally included Freedom Plaza. Freedom Plaza was an open area one block away from the block from the White House, often used for protests, but chose to abandon it as it would become “vulnerable.”
Currently, walk participants will pass security checkpoints, which are mandatory to participate in the Army Festival held at the National Mall before the parade. They say participants can bring African drums and signs, but not wooden sticks and water, but not open coolers, he said.
Hunter, a professor of sociology and African-American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, said Hunter is happening like protests against the Trump administration’s deportation continues in his university’s hometown. “This environment emphasizes that even more.”
Bree Taylor, founder and executive director of The Trans Unity Coalition, will hold a rally the day after the parade at Capitol Building, but said the fear of inter-community crackdowns has been “continuous” since Trump took office and has “escalated” in recent weeks.
The Michigan-based group originally applied for permission to meet on June 14th, but then moved the event the following morning.
“This isn’t about the president, it’s about our community, actually,” she said.
